Trina is Done
by midnightryder459
Summary: After hearing Tori and her friends express their true opinions about her, Trina feels devestated and completely alone. However, when another student offers his experienced advice to her, she finally begins to recover the potential others failed to see.
1. Prologue

**This explanation is long, but it gives insight to why I wrote this. This is a story that I have been planning out for a while. For those of you who haven't seen my profile, I know I am probably too old to watch any shows on Nick, but I consider it taking a break from all the seriousness in my life. The main reason that I choose to write this is because I think there are many issues raised in Victorious that are never explored and non-canon stories are a better way to cover them as well as introduce new, possibly more interesting, information. **

**I know that since I picked to do a story on Trina most people probably won't read this, but I think it's necessary (I like stories that focus on her). She is constantly put down, ignored, and even when episodes are supposedly meant to focus on her, they just make her look worse. Most episodes featured lately seem incredibly biased towards her. Also, I guess I can relate to her because I'm the oldest sibling in my family and have been overlooked plenty of times (though I'm not as selfish or obnoxious as she is portrayed). Plus, I'm majoring in psychology, so I recognize that in the real world some of what happens to Trina has serious consequences that can't obviously be shown on a network kids watch. **

**So to finish off this explanation, I may make some characters look or act out of character, I have new characters that I am planning on introducing (seems necessary), each chapter is going to focus more on what is happening to a particular person (thoughts, events, etc.) instead of directly from their point of view, and if I end up borrowing material from another person's story then I apologize to you in advance and if you let me know I'll work to change it. If you don't like where it's going, please let me know in a review. Other than that…Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious**

Chapter 1 (Background)

It was another bright and warm day in Los Angeles, California. Like most, the sun seemed to be shining particularly bright on Hollywood Arts High School. It was 7:30 AM and the halls were cluttered with all the students scurrying the hallways, exchanging books for others from their lockers, and still finding time to gossip with each other about whatever was new in their lives.

At that point, the Vega sisters walked through the front doors, both with a cup from Starbucks in hand. Everyone at Hollywood Arts knew the sisters quite well. Trina, the older sister, had been attending HA since freshman year and despite gaining a reputation through the school, she had not garnered much actual fame. While anyone who saw her would admit she was attractive, anyone who **knew** her, her sister included, would say that she was selfish, obnoxious, rude, and overall quite talentless. Despite all the hints people would try to give her, she continued putting on her one-woman shows, audition and sing for roles that she wouldn't get, and remain convinced that she was more talented than anyone else.

Anyone who knew the younger Vega, Tori, would have been hard-pressed to imagine how the two shared the same genetic material. True they looked somewhat alike, but that was where the similarities ended. Unlike Trina, Tori hadn't started Hollywood Arts until her junior year, but the progress that she had made since then was surprising. She had a natural talent for singing which she showed in the Big Showcase where, just after helping her sister and now best friend Andre rehearse, she performed "Make It Shine" without a flaw, received a thunderous applause, gained entrance to the performing arts school, and skyrocketed to one of the most noted actresses in the school.

Since she had been enrolled in Hollywood Arts, Tori was given the lead role in almost every play, she was given every opportunity to sing, and her teachers were recommending her for several roles outside of the school. In addition to gaining and helping several friends, she had ensured that her sister could stay in Hollywood Arts after the new principal decided that she was talentless.

While Tori seemed to be enjoying the highlife, Trina had been given few roles and made little progress in developing her talent. No one really had the nerve to try and confront her with the truth; sure Jade mentioned it often, but Jade's insulting everyone around the school had led to Trina ignoring her statements.

And so, Trina Vega continued her days at school convinced of how talented, perfect, and destined for stardom she was. What she didn't know when she arrived that day was that her whole self-concept was about to be shaken.

**I know what most of you are going to say: that it's too short and that I pretty much introduced nothing at all new into this part of the story and characterized Trina the way she always is. When I first started mapping this story out this chapter was originally longer, but I realized that if I included the rest of the content that I had thought up for the first chapter then it would be confusing because of the shift in focus. Anyway, I don't expect many reviews so just hang with me. The next chapter will focus on Trina and follow the cliffhanger I ended with.**


	2. Truths and Lies

**I don't really know what everyone will think about this chapter. It has inspirations from all over the place. A few things to explain before you read this. **_**One**_**-some of the things that are said in this chapter are hurtful, but I think they fit the most of the characters opinions about Trina (sorry if I portray some of the characters as too mean). **_**Two-**_**For the sake of this story imagine Jade and Beck are together. **_**Three-**_**I originally intended for only one person to be helping Trina overcome the rejection she experiences, but I thought that it might be better to introduce more characters. So, after seeing the promo for a showing of Twilight on FX (I was forced to see it with my at-the-time girlfriend when it came out and at a friend's graduation party; no offense intended to people who like the series), I remembered the five vampire siblings and based my new characters on them. By that I mean they keep to avoid others, not that they are vampires. As always please review if you have the time as it's appreciated.**

**AGAIN, I don't own Victorious, Twilight, or any major entertainment franchises mentioned in this story.**

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><p>"I told you stopping at Starbucks wouldn't make us late for class," Tori told her sister as they entered Hollywood Arts.<p>

"Maybe, but it does give me less time to get stuff from my locker and make sure I have everything for class," Trina shot back.

Sighing, Tori rolled her eyes at her sister's statement.

"Oh, well see ya later," Tori said as she made her way towards her own locker.

"Wait," Trina called after her. "When do you think you'll get done with school for the day? I need to know if I need to stay late for you."

"Oh, uhh." Tori paused for a moment. She wanted to go hang out with her friends after school and then invite them all over for poker at her house. She knew that if Trina was aware of her plans she would invite herself, which would just bring everyone's mood down. "Andre told me he needs my opinion about a new song he's been working on so I'm going to catch a ride with him. We've got a project we need to work and it's going to take us a few hours. We'll likely be working at home since his grandma's been even crazier lately," Tori lied.

"Okay," Trina answered. She didn't understand why it seemed so hard for her sister to just tell her that.

"Yeah so enjoy the rest of your day," Tori called as she skipped off to her locker where her all her friends waited.

"You too," Trina said softly, well aware her that Tori couldn't hear her.

As she made it to her own locker, Trina couldn't help but look back towards her sister surrounded by her friends. They all seemed excited to be in each other's company, except for Jade, but that was just Jade. Even though they were a year behind her, Trina always liked hanging out with Tori and her friends. She didn't have many friends her own age; they were all jealous of her talent she told herself. So whenever she had the chance, Trina would try to hang out with Tori, Andre, Cat, Robbie, Rex, Beck, and Jade for some sense of companionship.

Hearing people talk near her, Trina turned away from her locker and saw her "friend" Lindsay and two other girls in their class. Even though she missed half the conversation, Trina caught word of the main topic they were discussing.

"Hey girls," Trina said enthusiastically! "Have they said when they'll start auditions for that play in five weeks yet?"

Lindsay and the other girls just looked at her as if she had dropped out of the sky. Trina took no notice of their reaction and stood there eagerly awaiting their response.

"Uh, yeah. I think Sikowitz mentioned they would be putting the signup sheet for auditions tomorrow or Wednesday week and then they'd start next week," Lindsay answered and then raised her eyebrow. "You're not thinking of auditioning for a part are you?"

"Of course I am," Trina joyfully replied. "I think I could probably get a part."

The two other girls smirked and Lindsay gave a slight sarcastic smile.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Lindsay responded looking at Trina. Then she and the other two girls just stopped grinning and stared right past Trina.

Trina was unsure at first why they had stopped, but when she turned around, she understood the reason for their silences. At that very moment every student in the hallway found themselves looking at Sean Tibetts, Kathleen Owens, Allen Dorsett, Nora Vansen, and Justin Cisco; five senior students at Hollywood Arts…or rather the top five students at **all** of Hollywood Arts.

They were the group that all the students referred to as the All-Stars. Not because they were all on a particular sports team, but because each of them had gathered more fame than any of the other students. During their time at Hollywood Arts, they had all brilliantly acted in several plays, performed perfectly during concerts, and they had each appeared in several commercials and cameos in recent movies and T.V. shows. It was for these reasons that everyone showed a sense of awe whenever they entered. It was also why they rarely interacted with others. They kept to themselves at all times, only sat with each other at the Asphalt Café, and often worked alone if they couldn't work with each other.

Trina wasn't sure if the group avoided contact with others or if no one had the courage to talk to people of such high rank within the school setting. Even though she and everyone thought it was strange behavior, they understood it to some extent. Apparently they had all been close before they were accepted into Hollywood Arts and that carried over to their current school. There were also two couples within the group: Sean and Kathleen; and Allen and Nora. Everyone could understand why they would prefer each other's company individually, but they couldn't understand why Justin didn't branch out when he was somewhat the outsider.

Even though each of the All-Stars was successful in their pursuits, Justin was the most successful of all. He'd been doing commercials since he was five, had his first cameo in a movie at age 10, and continued to do so throughout his educational career. His parents were both big names in their own field: his father was a sports manager and his mother, a talent manager. Obviously they had worked hard to get their son the best roles they could and encouraged him to develop his talent. Even if he didn't have that, he was a phenomenal actor, singer, and he was the kind of guy every girl wanted to date: tall, well built, short dark hair, and deep blue eyes that sparkled like the ocean.

Pretty much every girl was too shy to talk to him though, possibly because they recalled his ex and didn't think they could measure up. Justin's last girlfriend, Amber Patheson, had gone to Hollywood Arts and been an All-Star member as well. She was a stunningly attractive girl with blonde hair and the body that most would kill for. Despite everyone thinking they were a perfect match, Amber eventually cheated on Justin with a guy from a random school. From what everyone heard, Amber thought that she was just too good to get tied down and decided to move on. With that, Amber Patheson left Hollywood Arts to go back to Sherwood High School, the school Tori had attended before HA, and no one heard from her again. Since then, Justin was the only single member of the All Stars.

Trina sighed as she saw the five students walk away. "What I wouldn't give to have someone like that or just get to hang out with all of them." As she followed them with her eyes she heard the five minute bell ring.

"Oh; gotta get to class. See you girls la," Trina started before she noticed that Lindsay and the other two students were half a hallway away from Trina. As she watched them go she recalled her sister's comment, "Lindsay doesn't like you." For a moment the statement stuck with Trina, wondering whether it was true or not, but she quickly shook the thought away before heading to class.

_Later that day at school_

"What's up Tori," Beck asked as he and Jade joined their friends at Tori's locker.

"Not much," the half Latina replied. "Just planning out the rest of the day."

"Ha ha, we're all meeting at Tori's house tonight," Cat said jumping up and down, earning a look of confusion from the others.

"Wow Cat! I never would have guessed that since I'm standing here next to Tori's locker waiting to see what time me and Beck should show up tonight," Jade said mocking the redhead.

Seeing the hurt displayed on her friend's face, Tori looked at Jade and asked, "Okay why did you feel that was necessary?"

Jade looked back at her and just shrugged.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence Rex piped in, "So are we meeting at Tori's house tonight or do I need to call a cab to get a ride to Northridge?"

"Rex," Robbie exclaimed to the puppet.

"Yes, you all are invited to my house tonight," Tori exclaimed. "Just give some time to clean up the living room some, set the poker table up, and be over at 5:00. If you want food and drinks though, you need to bring 'em yourself."

"We'll all bring something so the burdens not completely on you, right guys," Andre asked?

The rest of the group nodded their heads, except for Jade who just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. As long as your freak of a sister isn't there I'm good," Jade said.

"Don't worry. She thinks Andre and I are going to be working a project at home for hours so she'll likely be at the mall or practicing her karate at the gym the whole time," Tori replied.

All of them breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now that I'd gladly skip a trip to Northridge for. A chance to be in the Vega house without their most annoying member there," Rex said.

"You said it Rex," Robbie said with a smirk. "Last thing I want today is to be around someone that delirious."

"And materialistic," Cat chimed in.

"And narcissistic," Andre said.

"And unattractive," Beck said following suit.

"And perfect example of a talentless loser," Jade finished.

"At least be glad she won't be there when you guys are there tonight," Tori sighed closing her locker. "We live together, so no matter what I'm stuck with constantly ruining my days. I swear every time I'm offered a big role I think about how it can help me prepare for the future and then I always ask myself, 'how is being related to someone as stupid, awful, and worthless as Trina going to affect me?"

All her friends nodded in agreement with Tori and gave her a slight look of sympathy before the heard the bell for their last class ring.

"Well better get this out of the way before our Trina free night," Andre said, leading the others towards to Sikowitz's classroom.

"I swear this school's reputation would probably skyrocket without Trina Vega attending," Jade said as they passed the staircase.

What none of the group knew was that Trina was perched halfway up the stairs throughout their entire discussion. Now that no one was around, the senior speechlessly descended the stair case with a mix or shock and indescribable hurt shown on her face.

"So that's what Tori and her friends all think of me…," she asked herself. As she stared off into space she felt something hot on her right cheek. Touching her fingers to it, she realized her it was a tear, which was soon joined by a steady stream from both her eyes.

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><p><strong>Well, that's it for Chapter 2 of this story (sorry if what some of the characters said was out of character for them). For those of you who've read Chapter 1 and have wanted an actual introduction, I'm sorry it took so long. I've been busy with school and I wasn't really how to describe my new characters. Also, I'm thinking about changing the name of this story. After seeing Drake Bell in the newest episode (props to Dan Schneider for letting Daniella have a solo), I remembered an episode of "Drake and Josh" where Josh no longer wants anything to do with Drake and that plays into a later chapter that I intend to write; the described episode was called "Josh is Done." As always, please read and review. And…if you like the direction this story is taking and you wish to see more, but can't find it under the name Revelations and Alterations, look for a story called "Trina is Done" instead.<strong>


	3. What to Do

**Thank you ****Ailodierap**** and ****LuvIsInTheAir4Clare ****for your reviews and anyone else who has taken the time to read my story. I apologize for not updating as quick as I'd like; before I even created an account for the site I knew the course I wanted this story would take…but actually taking the time to type it up is time consuming and you find yourself constantly re-writing or second-guessing yourself. **

**Obviously, this chapter is a bit more subjective because this is where we get to see how Trina deals with the truth about everyone's thoughts about her. I also hope you read the last chapter carefully because some of the characters mentioned will become more prominent in later chapters so don't jump to any conclusions yet. I'm still debating about changing the name like I mentioned in the last chapter; will it get me more reviews or not, what do you all think?**

**As usual, I don't own Victorious, Soundgarden, or anything else mentioned in this chapter.**

By 4 PM, Hollywood Arts High School was almost empty. On any other day of the week, several of the afterschool clubs and organizations would be occupying classrooms or sitting on the outside grounds. Not on Monday though. By 4:00 on Mondays the students would rush out of the school, head home, and try and enjoy any remaining weekend symptoms they still had. The only people left on HA campus would be any students taking extra time to rehearse for plays, set up stages, or anyone who just didn't want to leave or have a place to go. Today, Trina Vega fit the last description, and was thankful that there seemed to be no one else around.

After overhearing Tori and her friends talking about her, she skipped her last class of the day to hide in the janitor's closet so no one would see her crying. When the last bell rang, she just stayed where she was; after all, she didn't have to give Tori a ride home and she couldn't think of any place she could go. She just wanted to be alone while the memory of what she'd heard continued to make her heart ache.

At first she didn't want to believe what she'd heard, but each of the insults just kept repeating in her mind, each with its owner's voice: annoying (Rex); delirious (Robby); materialistic (Cat); narcissistic (Andre); unattractive (Beck); talentless loser (Jade); and the worst: stupid, awful, and worthless (Tori). No matter how much she tried to cope with the pain, the repetitive cycle of mockery was just a constant reminder of something she had tried to repress: that she had no talent and that no one liked her.

For a long time she had known that she was getting fewer opportunities to be in plays or to sing in front of crowds. That was why she had been forced into writing her one woman show _Trina_, because she had no support from teachers or fellow students. She thought Robbie's review would help, but she was shocked when he called her serious life adventure a comedy. After performing it and hearing the applause she was starting to accept other's laughter at her expense, but once she read the reviews on her play, how it was so bad it was impossible not to laugh, she broke down and stopped trying as hard.

She kept up her diva attitude, but that was only a way she had become accustomed to using to handle her feelings of inadequacy when being compared to her younger sister. After Trina's chance of performing in the big showcase were lost and Tori got accepted into Hollywood Arts with practically no effort, Trina felt she had to keep up her acts of superiority, so that there might just be a chance someone who saw her sister might also take notice of her and give Trina a role in something. Clearly that wasn't going to happen and Trina was feeling more isolated after every day.

As if it wasn't obvious with the way she was always hanging out with students are year younger than her, none of the other seniors wanted to be associated with Trina. She now realized that the conversation she'd had earlier proved that Lindsay and her friends obviously didn't like her. Shawn, her former crush, didn't like her and was willing to exploit her attraction to him to get free pizza for him and his girlfriend. And most recently, a boy who had promised to take her to dinner and then a Laker's game decides to cancel by having Cat and Robbie sing how "insane" it would be for him to hang out with her.

All the rejections she suffered from the seniors were what drove her to try and get closer to Tori's friends, but, as with everything else, her sense that she was better than others ruined her attempts. She didn't want to come across that way, but she was so afraid of being rejected that the appearance of being strong that kept her from seeming weak was also what was driving people away.

Whereas she thought she had chances of becoming friends with any of them, now Trina knew it would never happen. In a way, she never expected Jade to like her, but she thought the two of them could at least respect each other's acting abilities, but who was she kidding. Jade's constant remark of "No one likes you," and mockery of Trina's performance proved that would never happen. None of the guys gave her a second thought. Yes, she had "attacked" them after she had her wisdom teeth removed, but come on; she was delusional from the pain medication and her parents weren't there to take care of her so how was she supposed to be acting.

She was sorry for that, but it obviously meant nothing. When she lied about her and Beck dating she just wanted it to go for a few days to see if some random guy would at least talk to her and then she wouldn't say anything else about them. Then of course Beck comes up, kisses her, claims that he loves her…only for him, Andre, and Robbie to exploit her feelings to make her look stupid in front of her father and make sure she wouldn't tell lies anymore.

For a while, Trina at least thought that she'd found a friend in Cat. They got to spend quality time together driving to get the solution to get the mask of Tori and singing together, she went with her when she was trying to find the tuberculosis patients, she had even helped her making pizza for Shawn and backed her when trying to remind Tori of the contact she signed when she was six.

_Tori_

Whenever she heard her sister's insults they seemed especially loud. Trina couldn't believe that those were her little sister's true feelings towards her. She knew that they argued over trivial things, but what siblings didn't. Trina always loved her younger sister. She knew that some of the things she did could be shown as being selfish, but she was trying to look out for Tori. She tried to stop her from going out with guys who would just hurt her, giving her advice for teachers to take for what classes, and making sure that she wouldn't get hurt in her efforts to improve her skills like when Tori broke her arms at the Gorilla Club.

She just wanted to feel like her little sister still loved her and knew she could trust her. All Tori ever wanted to do was be surrounded by her friends wherever she was; where Trina was never seemed to concern her. That was what the whole point of bringing up the contract they made when they were children. True, Trina had Tori act like a servant for the first few days, but after that she had been planning on using it just as an effort to spend some time with her sister again. But of course, Tori would rather make herself sick eating ice cream to get her a concert with Kesha than spend any time with Trina. Then, after Trina had encouraged and offered to help Tori write her own screenplay, Tori promised to make Trina lead actress. Trina had loved that time that she had been able to help her sister write out the script and set the stage; it really felt like they were connecting again. As the premier of her show drew closer however, Tori withdrew her offer, and Trina had been forced to blackmail Tori by taking her doll. Trina still felt guilty about that; she thought that the house falling on her was God's own way of punishing her.

After that, she had worked hard to try and stop acting so selfish and conceited, driven by the hope that Tori and her friends would accept her. Each attempt failed: they laughed when she got hit in the face with the package that had her fazzini shoes, no one defended her from Jade's snark comments, Tori pretended not to know her when she was getting thrown out of the sushi bar, and expected her to be happy knowing she got stood up.

Her own parents didn't even seem to care about her. Even before Tori got into Hollywood Arts, they had practically stopped coming to anything that involved Trina; now the only thing they came to see her in was whatever Tori was also in. She knew as the older daughter, she was expected to have some sense of independence, but over the past few years it was like her parents had no love for her at all. They had deliberately scheduled a trip so they wouldn't have to take care of her after her wisdom teeth were removed, they didn't care if she was locked up somewhere, and she had overheard them bribing Tori with any car to leave her in Yerba. She was temporarily reminded of her dad's question, "When you go to college, you're going far away right?"

Wiping away the freshest stream of tears, Trina looked at her watch. It was now 4:30, another hour and the school would be locked up. She didn't want to leave, but her legs were falling asleep from sitting on the ground for so long. So she got up and walked to the girl's restroom to reapply her make up. As she went to wipe away her smeared mascara, she caught a look at herself in the mirror: sad, broken, depressed, and alone. She briefly wondered what she should do.

No one wanted her around and no one was willing to give her a chance to prove she was trying to change who she had been for so long. What choices were there? She could drop out of Hollywood Arts and go to a different school. She knew that she would lose her chances of becoming famous if she did, but she realized it would mean that she wouldn't be burdening anyone with her lack of talent or annoying her sister and her friends as much. She could run away from home; that way her parents wouldn't have to put up with her antics and only focus on Tori. She couldn't either of these options. She couldn't leave HA because her parents had already fees for the year and it would be an even bigger waste of money for Trina to drop out to attend a school for free than continue to fail. And she didn't have enough money or know enough about cities away from Los Angeles to run away. There was another option, but she couldn't believe that she'd even considered suicide. It probably wouldn't matter to most, but she didn't want her family labeled as dysfunctional or neglectful because of her actions. So…for the time being, the only choice she had was to continue her current actions.

After Trina had fixed her make-up she was headed for the exit, lost in several thoughts of self-doubt. As she reached for the door to leave, however, she heard something that made her stop. It was faint, but she'd swear she heard a guitar playing somewhere. As she listened closer she realized it was coming from the Blackbox theater. As she got closer to she could hear the playing become more intense and also thought she heard a voice accompanying the solo. As she pushed the door to the theater open, the guitar solo become softer and she got to see who was responsible.

Sitting on the stage, back leaned against the wall, was Justin Cisco playing a black Stratocaster. He was clad in the attire he was pretty much always seen in: black button up shirt with a black T-shirt underneath and dark wash jeans. If anyone else in the school had tried to keep up the style Justin did, they would just be laughed at as tacky, gothic, or copying some movie, but somehow Justin made it work; most likely because of his status in the school. As she quietly snuck in without Justin noticing her, Trina also saw that he had his sunglasses on and there was a coffee thermos next to him. Once she stopped, she heard him begin to sing and play again:

'_Someone tried to tell me something  
>Don't let the world bring you down<br>Nothing can do me in before I do myself  
>So save it for your own and the ones you can help'<em>

As he paused for a second, Trina couldn't help but feel lost in his singing. She didn't know the exact words of the song, but she knew it was from a grunge band back in the '90s. Even if it he didn't own the song, Trina thought Justin sang it like it was his. Just the chance of seeing him here, getting to hear his voice, reminded her of why he was a top student at Hollywood Arts. She felt like she was getting her own private concert from him. "This is almost as good as it was getting to see Kesha, and I don't have to share this moment with anyone," she thought. Then Justin started up again, with the more powerful solo Trina had heard moments ago.

'_I've given everything I need, I'd give you everything I own  
>I'd give in, if it could at least be ours alone<br>I've given everything I could, to blow it to hell and gone  
>Burrow down in and blow up the outside<br>And blow up the outside, blow up the outside world'_

With the last word he threw his head back and extended his right hand in the air, almost as if he was basking in applause. Trina couldn't help but smile; after secretly hearing him play she wanted to give it to him. As she slowly backed towards the exit to leave, Trina heard Justin laugh slightly and then call out, "Please don't' go. If you're going to listen to me butcher someone else's art at least give me some feedback."

**Well there's the next chapter. Sorry if it's no good; I don't really know how I feel about it myself. I know some of you may have probably been expecting the entire story to be depressing and that this chapter shows it's going to be different so I apologize if it doesn't meet your expectations. Plus, some of the canon situations I included are probably out of context but it fits my purposes for the story.**

**As far as the song I included I kept trying to think of one that would sound decent if it were only played by guitar and most of the ones I came up with were too depressing (probably speaks about what kind of person I am). 'Blow Up the Outside World' may seem like an awkward song to use, but the verse I included seems to fit Trina's situation right now and I love the chorus so I thought to include that too. So please, please read and review and if I need to change anything don't be afraid to point it out. Hope to have the next chapter up within 3-4 days.**


	4. Introductions

**Here's the next chapter. Sorry it's later than I originally said; been buried under schoolwork and illness these past few days. Plus this chapter was not easy to write at all. I know I made a bunch of mistakes and probably didn't' give some info you all wanted and I further apologize for that. Also, I am taking one reviewer's advice and changing the name of the story, but just so people didn't get confused I decided to not change it until I could tell confirm it in a chapter. After this chapter, the story will be called "Trina Is Done" instead…Now that that's out there, feel free to read and review as you wish.**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Victorious or anything else mentioned in this chapter.

_**Previously**_

_With the last word he threw his head back and extended his right hand in the air, almost as if he was basking in applause. Trina couldn't help but smile; after secretly hearing him play she wanted to give it to him. As she slowly backed towards the exit to leave, Trina heard Justin laugh slightly and then call out, "Please don't' go. If you're going to listen to me butcher someone else's art at least give me some feedback."_

Trina froze. _She'd been caught. _After secretly listening to Justin play and sing, she didn't know whether to turn around or flee the auditorium in panic. What should she say? What would he say? Should she just run?

After weighing all options she came to the conclusion that there was no way she could feel any worse than she had already felt for the day and she had nowhere to go if she ran. Tori and her friends were all at her house, and she didn't feel like just walking around the mall where she could run into other Hollywood Arts students. So, she slowly turned around and looked up at Justin.

When she saw him he didn't seem mad; he was actually grinning at her. While she was trying to figure out why he said, "If you have somewhere you need to be then don't let me keep you, but if you have some time I'd love the company."

Before she could even consider either option, Trina found herself walking slowly towards the stage. _"What am I doing,"_ she asked herself. Ever since she had heard everyone's insults about her she had spent the rest of the day avoiding people. Now one of the hottest and most famous guys in all of Hollywood Arts was inviting her to comment on his performance and she was accepting it? She should have fleeing the auditorium in panic.

As she got closer Justin walked offstage to reappear with two chairs before coming to the edge. Trina was speechless as she looked up at him, feeling so small. True, she had never really gotten to talk with Justin during school so she had no idea what he was like personality wise, but no that she fully acknowledge her own level of talent, she wasn't sure why he would want to talk to her.

She had some difficulty getting on the stage, it was fairly high up when compared to the rest of the auditorium. Then she looked to see Justin had come to the edge and was offering to help her up. Trina blinked before accepting he helped her on the stage. "There we go, we're on the same level now," Justin said. At first Trina couldn't force herself to make eye contact, but when she did she found he was smiling at her.

"I-I-I'm…" Trina stuttered. Her mind just couldn't find the right words to say.

"Oh, right, introductions. Justin Cisco," he said stretching out his hand. Trina smirked and did the same. Of course she knew who he was; as she shook Justin's hand, she wondered why he was being so friendly to someone he likely barely knew.

"Yeah, I know," Trina said in a quiet voice. "I'm…"

"Trina Vega; I know," Justin said finishing her sentence. Trina gasped. She was surprised Justin knew who she was.

"How do you know who I am?" Trina asked. Justin gave her the same smirk he had earlier.

"Well, we have three classes together, we're both seniors, and except for freshman year I'm pretty sure we've always been at the same school," Justin responded.

"Yeah, I guess all that is true," Trina said laughing slightly. Come to think of it, all of what he said was true. Even before Hollywood Arts she recalled seeing Justin, as well as the rest of the All Stars, at whatever school she was enrolled in. Of course back then no one really cared much about how famous anyone was. "Oh, uh I'm sorry I was listening to you singing and playing. I was just about to leave when I heard you playing and wanted to see what it was," she said.

"It's no problem. I like getting to play for others," Justin told her. "So would you care to join me for a bit? I'd appreciate having someone to talk to." He motioned towards the two chairs he brought out. Trina paused for a moment before she decided, "I guess I could join you for a while," she said with some uncertainty.

As they both took a seat, Trina couldn't keep her eyes off Justin. She didn't know what to make of the situation. True, she had never really gotten to interact with him much because he didn't seem to hang around with anyone besides his four close friends. Given his resume, she just naturally assumed that he would be stuck-up and selfish…kinda of the way Trina acted herself. Instead, Justin was acting kind and friendly to her.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before Justin said, "So, I'm glad to see your doing all right."

Trina gave him a quizzical look. "Why wouldn't I be doing all right," she asked?

"Well I was the last play you were in. Where you played the alien sister I think." Trina's eyes shot open. _'Oh no, he saw that,'_ she thought. That stupid play where she was improving crazy, made-up words as an alien language before having the house fall on her. "I thought you might have been seriously hurt when that house prop fell on you," Justin explained.

"Oh," Trina said, surprised that he would show concern for another random student. "I'm fine. Just got some bumps and bruises from that. Nothing too bad."

"That's good. I'm glad you were able to get back to classes so quick," Justin said.

Trina couldn't help but blush at his words. _'Wow. Someone I never get to interact with has more for me concern than my family and the people I do.' _As sad a line of thought as it was, she was grateful to have someone to actually talk to. To avoid another awkward silence, Trina decided to ask, "So if you don't mind me asking, why are you here so late after school all alone?"

"Well, I wasn't in the mood to head home because Mondays are whenever my twin younger sisters are constantly practicing and it gets old after hearing them so many times. And my closest friends are out on a double date so I didn't want to interrupt any of their activities. I had my guitar in the car so I decided to came in here and relax for a while," Justin said.

"I'm sure your friends wouldn't have minded you tagging along with them," Trina said.

"Probably not, but as the only single member of the 'All Stars,' I feel like a fifth wheel whenever we all hang out together," Justin said. As he saw the puzzled look on Trina's face, he grinned. "Yeah, I know what everyone calls us, and how I'm supposed to be the intimidating leader because I've gotten to have some cameos and parts in movies right?" Trina was surprised. Even though all of Hollywood Arts referred to Justin and the others as the All Stars, all other students thought they kept it secret enough so none of the group heard. Unsure of how to respond, Trina just nodded.

"I admit, the five of us have probably got more screen time than most people here, but we certainly don't consider ourselves any different from the other people here. We've all just been friends for years so we hang out with each other. People just seem to be too intimidated to talk to us," Justin explained. "So you and I can have an honest, actual conversation here."

"Okay," Trina responded.

"Now that we both know why I'm here so late, do you mind if I ask you the same?" Justin asked.

Trina searched for a proper response. Should she tell him the truth; that she was here because all the people she had hoped were her friends didn't want her around and she couldn't go home because they were there? Or should she just act like the self-centered diva that Justin might have seen her behave like on a day-to-day basis? After hearing how honest Justin's previous statements had been, she decided that there was no harm disclosing to him.

"I just didn't really have anywhere to go," Trina said.

Looking back at Justin, she saw some confusion in his face. "You couldn't have gone home, or hang out with any friends?" he asked.

"No," Trina replied. "I thought I did, but I was just fooling myself." She slowly felt the tears coming to her eyes again. She didn't want anyone to see her cry, but she couldn't stop them. She quickly got her from the chair and walked to the side of the stage, facing away from Justin. "Everyone in the school hates me. Teachers never offer me any roles or songs, my classmates avoid me, and the people I thought were my friends just think I'm talentless and pathetic. So they just do everything they can to avoid me and mock me behind my back."

Now the tears were free flowing again. All the insults from Tori and the others she'd heard earlier were echoing insider her head again. She just had to get out of here.

As Trina turned to leave she stumbled and fell into something…or rather someone. Justin had gotten up and walked over to her side while she'd been distracted. As she landed against him he used his arms to help her regain her balance. Feeling his arms around her, Trina felt surprised and shock at first, but also felt comforted by someone being there and just listening to her. So she let go, and just let her tears come.

Trina lost track of how long she stood there in Justin's embrace, just wanting to it to last. Eventually she wiped her eyes and stood up straight again. "Are you okay?" Justin asked.

"Yeah," Trina said. She smiled at Justin. "Sorry for crying all over you. I just lost it I guess."

"Hey, it's okay," Justin assured her. "And for what it's worth, if the people you're referring to are putting you down like that, then they don't deserve to have you as a friend."

"But they're right, aren't' they?" Trina said back. "I never get the leads in any plays; people run away whenever I try and sing; even when I try to act differently people don't even give me a chance. No matter how hard I try, it never makes a difference."

"Can I tell you something?" Justin asked. Trina looked at him and nodded. "They're wrong. I've seen your performances and I understand how they can draw conclusions like that. But I remember when you auditioned for Hollywood Arts and I've seen you practice. I know you're talented. There's only one thing that holds you back from showing everyone how much," he said.

Trina's head shot up. "What is it? What's holding me back? Please tell me,! she pleaded with him.

"Before I do, answer me one question," Justin said.

**Well there's the next chapter. As always I'm not sure how to feel about it. I'm sure there's plenty of mistakes, grammar and otherwise, and I think I probably repeated or overstated somethings. So please review, advise, and remember that by when the next chapter is up, the story will have a new title: Trina Is Done instead of Revelations and Alterations. Thanks as always.**


	5. Forgotten Reason

**Here's the next chapter. Even though the title is officially changed now, I didn't want to take the original title out yet to make sure any current readers don't try looking for a story that's not up anymore. Not really much to report about this chapter except that it's very long and some things are likely taken out of context or are open to interpretation. So as always, please read, review, rinse & repeat.**

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Victorious or anything mentioned in this.**

_**Previously**_

_"But they're right, aren't' they?" Trina said back. "I never get the leads in any plays; people run away whenever I try and sing; even when I try to act differently people don't even give me a chance. No matter how hard I try, it never makes a difference."_

_"Can I tell you something?" Justin asked. Trina looked at him and nodded. "They're wrong. I've seen your performances and I understand how they can draw conclusions like that. But I remember when you auditioned for Hollywood Arts and I've seen you practice. I know you're talented. There's only one thing that holds you back from showing everyone how much," he said._

_Trina's head shot up. "What is it? What's holding me back? Please tell me,! she pleaded with him._

_"Before I do, answer me one question," Justin said._

At first Trina was confused, but decided there was no harm if what Justin had to say could help her. "Okay, what is it?" she asked.

"Why did you decide to come to Hollywood Arts?" Justin asked.

Now Trina was even more confused. _'Why would he ask that?'_ she asked herself. She was sure that her reason for being at HA was the same as everyone else who attended.

"Because I wanted to develop my talent so that I could become famous," Trina answered.

Justin gave her a somewhat skeptical look. "So being here is just a means to an end for you?" he asked. "You're only interested in singing and acting to gain fame…you don't do either because you enjoy them and it's what you want to do regardless of what other people may say?"

"Well I…," Trina started, but suddenly she paused. As she thought back to earlier years, she realized Justin had a point.

She remembered the first time she had tried singing: her Aunt Sonya's wedding when she was five years old. Originally, she was just the flower girl; she remembered walking down the aisle overhearing all the whispers about how cute she looked. Later on at the reception, several family members got up to either give speeches or sing karaoke to her aunt and new uncle. After some convincing, Trina got up as well and gave it a try. Even though she clearly couldn't read the words on the screen, she remembered feeling so loved when everyone applauded her for trying. After that, she would try to sing in the car whenever her parents had the radio on. Of course back then, her parents still cared for her.

When she first started middle school, Trina had some close friends, but she was still shy about meeting new people. Despite some initial troubles adjusting to interacting with several new, unknown students, she joined an afterschool drama club where she first got experiences with acting. That was where her fascination with theater began. It wasn't just that she felt accepted by the other people in the program; by acting out different parts in plays, other students got to see a side of her that they didn't see elsewhere and the fact that she could incorporate singing into the program only enhanced her interests.

All these events were what motivated her to work towards a career of being a singer or actress, and so, when the opportunity came, she applied to Hollywood Arts. But now…she knew she didn't feel the same passion and commitment that she had when she first started. Instead of putting her heart into her work, she was only worried about how others would grade her performances.

"What happened?" she unintentionally asked out loud. Realizing she had voiced her thoughts to Justin, she simply decided to continue. "Do I just not want to do this anymore?" It was an uncomfortable line of thought, but after all the criticisms she had endured over the years (past and recent) as well as her recent epiphany, she had to force herself to consider it.

"I think I know what happened," Justin answered her. Trina looked up at him with curiosity and desperation in her heart, but she did her best not to show it. "Think about all the classes that are required here and the differences in year. When you started here you had the passion and fire in your heart for singing and acting and were ready to learn how to best master it. That was what your learned in freshman year classes. They wanted to assess the talent that you had at the start, work towards shaping it, and give everyone the opportunity to show it so that they could see if this is where the students really wanted to be. But it all goes wrong after that year."

Trina looked at Justin puzzled before he continued. "Sophomore year, there were classes about acting, but there was almost no focus on advancing and improving your technique. The teachers just teach you different methods of acting, but it's the forms that they think are important and instead of giving you feedback on how to correct them, they just give you cryptic responses like, 'You need to be more this and less that." At first Trina wasn't sure if he was right or not, but then she remembered when she was the sick girl in 'Steamboat Suzy.' What was it Sikowitz had said to her, "You need to sell the tuberculosis." What kind of instruction was that? How was she supposed to know how a person with tuberculosis coughed?

Now that Trina realized some of what Justin was saying made sense, she wanted to her his thoughts about the remaining years. "Go on," she said.

Justin picked up where he left off. "All right. While none of the current students may have realized it yet, junior year is the time where every teacher is doing a different play every week and is using the students in an effort to promote themselves by showing their writing skills in the play and indirectly showing their acting techniques through the students. I used to think Sikowitz was above that, but after seeing how he was more than willing to play the female captain in that one play…I might have been wrong." Trina saw that Justin couldn't hold back his smirk at this and she allowed herself to grin as well. He probably didn't know that Sikowitz had done this just so Jade wouldn't have the role.

"And now we come to our current status, senior year," Justin stated. "At this point in our education, we get practically nothing. After they've 'spent so much time teaching us how to act,' our wonderful instructors expect us to be able to reach out to other directors and artists outside school boundaries for possible roles while we just take the normal classes that every other high school offers so that we can still function in society if we don't make it big in show business and teachers can say that they've done their jobs," he finished.

Trina just looked at Justin aghast for a moment trying to take in everything he said. It was true though; practically no senior was ever seen in Hollywood Arts productions any more. If they were it was to make up a class or a small part to support another student in a different year.

"Ummm, so how does this relate to me?" Trina asked.

"My point is, you started here with your own style, but the teachers here wanted you to follow their methods instead. You started to lose some of your passion when you were forced to follow someone else's techniques instead and you become more concerned with impressing others than just trying to be happy performing. After the first time you experienced any disapproval from them, you tried to compensate for whatever perceived flaw you had by singing louder than others and working solo so that you would be the center of attention instead of working to improve your own technique. As a result, whenever you get on stage, you're so concerned with people's approval that you tense up, you try too hard, and you don't perform as well as you would if you were more calm and relaxed," Justin stated.

With this new information, Trina started to think back to all her recent performances. Her one woman show, Trina!, was meant to represent what she thought her overall life could be: a young girl comes to a strange place (in her case Hollywood Arts), she has struggles with people telling her she'll never being able to do something, but in the end, she overcomes all the challenges placed in front of her. Trina had put so much time and into planning her performance, but when it came time for Robbie to write a review, she was so nervous about messing up and having no one come to her show, that she ended up singing at the top of her lungs and using an almost comical voice throughout the play. She realized what she was doing halfway through the play, but instead of trying to correct it, she continued it until the end before threatening Robbie to write a good review. As a result, he described her drama as a comedy that everyone loved once they saw it. Even though it hurt having something she put her heart into, Trina still took a moment to enjoy others' praise.

Her subsequent roles were almost the same. In "Steamboat Suzy" she felt discouraged when she got such a small role that she ended up fake coughing as loud as possible to get more attention. While it didn't seem to bother Sikowitz, his comment about her cough being more realistic had only resulted in a short stay at the hospital for Trina. Then in Tori's play, Trina had been so worried that she might ruin her sister's effort that she'd tried to make her lines sound clearer, but apparently that had made it worse and Tori changed all her lines to alien language. She looked back at Justin who was giving her a quizzical look.

"You're right," Trina admitted. All these years being hounded by teachers and directors had made her forget why she wanted to perform. It was all about getting noticed and becoming famous, not about fulfilling passions and desires. "I see what you mean, but I don't know how to fix it from here," she said.

Justin didn't answer right away. It looked like he was thinking of a possible solution. "Did you hear about that play that Sikowitz is helping put on," he asked.

"Yeah," Trina responded, "The part list is supposed to be up Wednesday, like it matters. Sikowitz always picks the same people for his plays." Trina was sure that her sister and whatever friends of hers tried out would definitely be included.

"Don't be so sure," Justin countered. Trina looked up at his comment. "Sikowitz is just the faculty member sponsoring it and I'm sure that he's gonna make recommendations, but the actual director is someone outside HA, and they're making all the cast and crew decisions…You think you might be willing to try out for a part?"

Trina was shocked. _'Is this guy encouraging me to try out?' _ she asked herself. Looking at Justin, Trina could see a hopeful look on his face. She didn't doubt his faith in her, but did she really want to try just to have to endure another failure? Not even half an hour ago, she'd been considering leaving Hollywood Arts because she'd finally been forced to accept her being talentless because of Tori's insult.

Yet, for some reason Trina did want to take the chance. Now that she realized she'd been striving for what everyone else considered perfect instead of her own idea, she was curious about how different her performance would be.

For what only lasted about a minute, seemed to last an eternity in Trina's mind. In the end, she couldn't reach a conclusion. "I don't know," Trina said.

Justin sighed while running his hand through his hair. Trina couldn't help but feel like she'd disappointed him so she look away from him just to stare at the ground. Suddenly she felt an intense warmth rush through, causing her to look back to see Justin was holding her hand in his and was looking deeply into her eyes.

"Tell you what," he said. "You agree to try out for a role, and I'll spend as much time helping you rehearse and bring out the potential that I know you have as you want."

Trina was silent at the offer. "What happens if I still don't get the role?" she asked him. It was an uncomfortable thought, but she had to consider it.

Justin grinned back at her. "Then I guarantee that you'll have stunned everyone at auditions and have proven them wrong. "

In that instant, all of Trina's doubts were swept away. She knew he was being honest and that he was willing to help her. Also, if it would give her the opportunity to prove people wrong, that she wasn't who everyone thought she was, she would take it. "Deal," she told Justin.

"All right," he answered with a smile Trina knew was genuine. "Now, I think we should probably be heading out of here because for some reason Luther doesn't like people around when he starts cleaning or whatever he does around here."

Trina laughed at that, "Okay, let me get my stuff." They both took a moment to get all their stuff together. After Justin got his guitar back in the case they both started off towards the parking lot.

They walked in silence for a little bit. Trina couldn't help but look at Justin whenever she got the chance. It wasn't just his looks now. It was the fact that someone had finally been nice to her and not judge her without getting to know her. The fact that it was someone at the top of the Hollywood Arts ladder only further boosted her self-esteem. It must have been affecting her sight because she could swear that she felt Justin looking over at her a few times.

After they were about halfway to their respective vehicles, Justin broke the silence. "So if you don't' mind me asking, what was the deal with those supposed friends you mentioned?"

Trina didn't want to think about Tori and the others, but she figured as long as she didn't mention any names, there wouldn't be any harm in discussing her problems. "They were never really my friends. Just people I met through association and classes. I tried getting close to them, but I was just so worried about being rejected I overcompensated like I've been doing here and turned them completely against me. Now they're just like everyone else here: they hate me and won't give me a chance." The last few words almost brought her out of her elated mood.

"Look, I understand that you probably don't want to share names and I may not know the people you're talking about, but I think that a part of friendship should be to discuss some problems you may have with a person. Yeah it can be unpleasant, but it's either that or someone else may tell them that and they realize you've been lying to them or you overhear them telling someone else and the same thing happens," Justin told her.

Trina knew what he said was true; she just didn't know what to do about it. "So what do you think I should do?" she asked Justin.

"Like I said, if they're just going to put you down and insult you behind your back, then they don't deserve you as a friend. That doesn't mean you should just become a social island, but if hanging around with them hurts your feelings, then stop it and try meeting new friends," Justin said.

"That's gonna be kind of hard," Trina admitted. "I think everyone here has made up their minds about me."

"Don't be so sure," Justin told her. When Trina gave him one of her curious looks he said, "I can think of four people who'd give you a chance."

Trina gasped. Was he referring to? "You mean your four friends?"

Justin smiled, "Of course. I'm sure they'd be glad to meet you."

Trina was a bit nervous about meeting the rest of the All Stars. True, she'd just met and had a close conversation with one of them, but being surrounded by all five at once sounded a bit overwhelming. "You don't think they'd reject someone who's been perceived as talentless."

Justin grinned at her comment. "Well they took me back after I'd been told that."

Trina gasped. "How could anyone think that you're talentless? You've done so much compared to everyone else here. You're great at all kinds of acting, dancing, singing, and based on what I heard earlier, you're a great guitar player."

Justin blushed at her complements. "That's nice of you to say, but it wasn't enough to help me a few years ago."

"What do you mean?" Trina asked.

"Remember me saying that the only year I know for sure that we weren't at the same school was freshman year," Justin asked. Trina nodded. "Well that's because I didn't get in to HA on my first attempt."

"Why not?" Trina asked in shock.

Justin sighed and looked straight ahead as he recalled the memory. "Well I knew what I was going to do for my audition from the start so that was good, but I also knew that there were a lot of people trying out so I didn't know exactly what I'd be competing against. So to know how good I'd have to be I waited until the last audition available to put my performance just in case I'd have to add anything to my act to make it better."

"Even though I gave my all that day because there were great competitors there, you and my friends included, there was only one other person trying out on the same day: Paul Eikner."

"Paul Eikner?" Trina said in disbelief. If there was one student that people said was worse than her, it was Paul Eikner, the former principal's son. He hadn't even wanted to come to HA in the first place. Everyone at Hollywood Arts had heard that his father had forced him to audition.

"Yep," Justin responded. "What I didn't realize, through my own overconfidence, is that they were picking students at every audition, there was only one spot left open by the time mine came, and that apparently the principal got final say so it's obvious who he picked."

"That is so unfair," Trina stated.

Justin laughed at her comment. "True. So I got stuck at Sherwood High School for a year without my best friends. But luckily, I got into Hollywood Arts on my next try and here I am today."

"How was it at that school?" Trina asked.

"Certainly not the place for someone who wanted to be an actor or singer," Justin admitted. "They pretty much only had beginner level stuff and never moved beyond that so that got me down for a while." Trina could sense the sadness in his voice about not being able to follow his dreams. "So I was forced to look for other classes. Most weren't that interesting, but I did find a psychology and philosophy course that I liked a lot."

"Did you ever consider going after those?" Trina asked.

"No, never." Justin answered. "Like most people I took those because I was curious about those subjects. Even though it was interesting, it did nothing to sway me from my love of performing, but it did help me to portray different emotions better and teach me to always value other people feelings."

Trina laughed. "I can see value in that."

As they reached her car Trina unlocked it and put her stuff in the back seat. She turned around face Justin. "Well I guess I better let you get going," he said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Trina said back. "Listen, I can't thank you enough for listening me today. I really appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure," Justin told her. For a moment they stood there looking at each other. All of a sudden, overcome with emotion, Trina reached out and hugged Justin, another way of thanking him.

"It almost felt like having a friend today," Trina explained.

"Can I see your phone," Justin asked. Trina nodded, digging in her purse to fish out her phone. She couldn't help but wonder what he wanted with her phone after she handed it to him. After a minute he handed it back to her. "I added something there for you," he explained.

As Trina looked at the screen she let felt her heart lift. It was on the contacts screen; a new one had been added with a comment next to it: _Justin Cisco (friend)._

"I know we've just officially met, but I feel like I've gotten to know you well enough to consider you a friend," Justin said. As Trina looked up at him, she almost felt tears in her eyes, but this time they were of joy instead of sadness.

"Thank you," she said getting into her car.

"You're welcome," Justin told her. "If you ever need anything or someone to talk to, just let me know."

"I will," Trina said. "Well, see you tomorrow."

"Looking forward to it," Justin said smiling at her. A second later he backed away letting Trina pull out.

As she was driving away, Trina couldn't think of a time she felt happier. No matter what had happened earlier or what was left to happen, nothing could take away from this moment.

**Well there's the next chapter. Sorry for the delay. Not really sure how to feel about it. Like always, I doubted certain parts so I had to rewrite a lot. Plus I always feel compelled to include lots of detail and that explains why it's so long (sorry about that too.) Before anyone asks, this is not the last chapter. I still have at least 5 more on the way. Please review. I really need ideas about what kind of play that Trina's going to audition for.**


	6. Goodbye to the Old

**Hey all, here's the next chapter. I know it's a lot shorter than my previous ones, but I originally intended it to be part of the last chapter I added. **

**Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. To address some reviews: As far as the play that has been previously mentioned, I'd prefer it to be something original (that's what they feature in the show), but since I don't think we could put an entire play together like Dan Schneider, I wouldn't mind it if it were a classic that's not done a lot. As far as Trina's role in the play, I'd like it to be important. I understand why she might not get the lead role, but I think if I decide to include Justin in the play, I'd like them to be opposite each other. **

**That's just a few thoughts without giving too much away. Please feel free to review this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious.**

Despite the disappointment earlier in the day, Trina Vega felt happier and more hopeful than she had in the longest time as she drove home.

'_If you ever need anything or someone to talk to, just let me know.' _Trina kept replaying the words in her head. After being rejected so many times, someone had not only talked to her, but also let her open up to them, show her real self instead of the façade she showed everyone else, and even comfort her when she was distressed. Even more, he had offered to be her friend after having only one talk with her. And the fact that it was Justin only lifted her heart even more.

As she pulled into her driveway she noticed several cars parked around her house. Trina recognized them as Andre's, Cat's, and Beck's. She suddenly remembered their discussion earlier about getting together at her house. She also remembered the lie Tori had told her to ensure Trina wouldn't be there. However, even though Trina recalled how she felt when she heard them talking, she didn't feel that way now.

She tried figuring out why she had the sudden change of heart while she walked to her front door. When she was within a few feet, the realization hit her: she didn't care anymore. Tori and her friends never gave her a chance to really be herself and it was likely they never would. What was it Justin said to her earlier…"_if they're just going to put you down and insult you behind your back, then they don't deserve you as a friend. That doesn't mean you should just become a social island, but if hanging around with them hurts your feelings, then stop it and try meeting new friends_."

Recalling his advice, Trina decided then and there that she was done trying to spend time with all of them and move on. She knew it would be difficult trying to get other friends, but she knew without a doubt she had one person. She looked back at her phone, went to her contact list and saw the name: _Justin Cisco (friend)._ And with that, she smiled before walking inside.

As she stepped in she saw all of them in their usual spot: sitting at the table playing poker. Trina wasn't quite sure how that got started, or how it was always their house they played at, but it just seemed to become the norm. She noticed as she first walked in the look of surprise on each of their faces. She noticed Tori's was a mix of shock and guilt. Try as she might, Trina couldn't help but grin on the inside as she faced all of them.

"Ugh, Trina…I, I, didn't think you'd get home this early," her sister stuttered. Trina could tell Tori knew she had caught been caught in a lie, but she had no intentions of letting her know that. For now, she would just act slightly surprised and lead them on.

"There wasn't really anything at the mall today, so I just decided I might as well come home," Trina said. As she dropped her backpack on the couch and made her way to the fridge she could feel everyone's eyes on her. She knew what they were expecting her to do: join the game without anyone's say so, brag, and annoy them. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of knowing they were right in their assumptions.

Even if Trina wasn't going to try and be friends with them anymore, she realized that she didn't want to be the person they thought or expected her to be. She didn't have to be. She was just going to try and move on, regardless of what Tori, her friends, or anyone at HA thought.

"Soooo, I guess you wanna jump in on our game, right Trina," she heard Jade say. As Trina grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge she turned and saw Tori and the others give Jade a look of disapproval. Most people would think it would be because of Jade's rudeness, but Trina guessed there was something else. Possibly a nonverbal way of saying, _'Don't give her any ideas?'_

"No, I don't want to play," Trina responded after a second. She wanted to make sure that they thought she didn't really consider playing. Just to confuse them. "I just wanted to get something to drink before starting my homework." And with that, Trina made her way back to the living room to grab her backpack before heading upstairs.

"Wait a second," Trina heard Cat say. "You're going to do homework instead of playing cards with us." Trina turned around to face the six junior students and puppet. She could definitely see confusion on each of their faces. She simply shrugged her shoulders and said, "Yeah," before turned back upstairs to start her homework.

As Trina disappeared up the steps, everyone at the card table exchanged looks of surprise. Out of all of them, Tori was the most surprised. '_What had just happened?'_ she asked herself. Whether she was welcome or not, Trina never missed a chance to play poker; mostly because she rarely lost. Now however, she was giving up the chance to play for homework?

After a few moments, it was Rex who broke the silence with, "Okay…did that seem strange to anybody else?"

**Well there's the next chapter. As always I have my doubts about it. I hope that I didn't make Trina come across as too harsh. The idea I wanted to convey is that Trina realizes she doesn't want or have to be around people who've only ever insulted her and begins to rethink some behaviors she has in the show. Please review. I'm thinking the next chapter will be up sometime tomorrow, but no promises.**


	7. Meeting the Others

**Well fiction readers, here's the next chapter. I know that I said I would have it posted slightly over a week ago, but my computer was acting up. It said there was a problem with word and I ended up losing a bunch of what I wrote since that message always popped up before I could save any recent changes. Plus, I've been really trying to finish the semester up and I guess I've been lazy on a few days. Luckily I finally got this part done. I know it's really long, but I don't' know how I'd feel if I made this part into multiple chapters if I could fit it into one. Either way, I kinda don't like this chapter. Mostly because I rushed through it, was very repetitive, and probably could've given better character descriptions. I'm just really trying to keep updating to get feedback. While reading it I think you should probably have chapter 2 open in a different tab so you remember the names that refer to my made-up characters. Please review once done.**

**Disclaimer****: I do not own Victorious, Family Guy, the Disney channel, or any person that is referred to in this chapter. (I'm sorry if I made any negative comments about some things you may like. The comments you hear are actually what I've heard people say).**

Trina woke up early the next morning with a slight yawn as she stretched out before getting out of bed. She then walked over to her closet, grabbed her bathrobe, and started towards the shower. As she walked to the bathroom, she noticed how quiet it was in her house. Of course that was no surprise. It was slightly after 6 AM; with the possible exception of her dad, the police officer, the rest of her family would still be asleep for at least another hour.

When she got to the bathroom, she turned the shower on to give it a minute to warm up. As she waited she thought back to the previous night. She still couldn't help but smile at the surprise she'd seen on Tori and her friends' faces at her not wanting to play cards with them. Even though it might be seen by most as a small act, Trina saw it was a first step in moving on from them and trying to meet different people.

For the rest of the night, Trina had done as she said and worked on her homework. She had to admit she was curious how the poker game was going, but every time she simply gave her head a shake and got back to her homework for History. To further help her take her mind off Tori and the others, she grabbed her headphones, went to Pandora, and listened to some electronic and smooth jazz songs. True, she didn't sing them herself, but they always seemed to help her relax and relieve her stress better than the pop songs she sang.

After waiting a short while, Trina checked the water and it felt warm enough so she disrobed and jumped in. As the warm water hit her she thought about what to expect for the day. She knew what to expect from her classes. What she was curious about was if she would get to see her new friend.

She smiled thinking of Justin, but couldn't help but wonder if he had been serious yesterday. To talk to someone others would view as lower in popularity than you when no one else was around was one thing. To do the same when all of your peers were around and you ran the risk of losing your status in school was something different. Trina's mood dropped somewhat at the thought, but despite the negative emotions, somehow she knew that Justin wouldn't abandon her. There was something about the way Justin talked to and looked at her that just made her sure he wasn't lying. All she had to do now was meet his friends, the other All-Stars. '_Should make for an interesting day,'_ Trina thought to herself as she finished her shower.

She threw her robe back around herself as she stepped out before turning to the mirror. Taking note of her appearance, she grabbed a brush to fix her hair, gave it a quick coat of hairspray, and carefully applying her makeup. Once she was satisfied with how she looked she smiled at her reflection, before stepping away. "Not too bad," she said out loud exiting the bathroom.

As she stepped out into the hallway, Trina was surprised that it was still dark and quiet in the house. She thought it was weird at first, but when she got to her room, she saw that it was only 6:20. Now Trina was really surprised. She normally spent at least a good 40 minutes in the bathroom getting ready for school with another 10 to put on her makeup. That was why the rest of her family always got to sleep later: waiting for Trina to get done.

"Guess that talk yesterday's helping in more than one way," Trina said out loud, grinning to herself before getting her clothes ready for school.

_(About 30 minutes later in another part of the house)_

Tori Vega emerged from her room, sleepily making her way to the bathroom to get ready for school. She'd been up late trying to finish her homework. Turns out her friends ended up staying later than she thought and she was left to put up the poker table and dishes by herself. As a result, she got a late start on her assignments, which cost her a few hours of sleep.

When she reached her destination, she sighed in frustration seeing that the door was closed. Her sister always took forever to get ready and apparently today was no exception. Tori would just have to grab a quick shower and hope she looked her best at school today.

"Trina, come on," Tori said knocking on the door. Trina should know by now that her parents had made her limit the amount of time she could spend shower and put her makeup on. Still, that hadn't done much to decrease the time she took. "There are other people in the world who need to get ready and all the time you spend trying to improve your looks never helps anyway so could you give me a chance to get ready."

"What are you doing," Tori heard behind her.

At first Tori couldn't believe it that it might have been her older sister who said that. _'There is no way I'm letting her take her shower first if she overslept,'_ Tori told herself. But as she turned around, her eyes shot open in surprise. There stood Trina, dressed and ready for school, giving Tori a puzzled look.

"I-I-I thought you-were in-how are," Tori stuttered, shocked that her sister was ready so fast.

"Tori come on. We'll be late for school if you don't get ready," Trina said before making her way downstairs.

Tori watched her sister walk away, completely confused as she looked back and forth from the bathroom door to the stairs. She checked the door to find out it was unlocked and the bathroom empty. Surprised, she left the bathroom for a moment to look out the window in her room. Peeking through the blinds she looked all over outside. '_Okay, so first Trina turns down a chance to play, and most likely win, poker last night and now she's ready in half the time it normally takes her…but pigs still can't fly,'_ Tori thought trying to figure out the past few events. "Weird," she said before jumping in the shower.

Forty minutes later the Vega sisters strode into Hollywood Arts. On the ride over, Tori was constantly fighting the urge to ask her sister about her sudden change in behavior. If it were anyone else she could have just let it go, but Trina…her sister rarely broke her daily routines. As they drove to school Tori kept looking over at Trina, both trying to figure out why she might be acting differently and seeing if there was anything else different about her. In the end, all Tori got were a few confused looks from Trina when she noticed her. "What," Trina asked the third time she caught Tori studying her. Embarrassed at being caught, Tori looked away muttering, "Nothing."

While Tori joined her friends over at her locker, Trina went the opposite way to her locker. Even though she saw Tori and her friends looking happy, Trina didn't feel the urge to walk over and join them. Instead she found herself scanning the halls looking for one person in particular. She recognized several people in the halls either from class or plays, but she couldn't find who she was looking for. Sighing, she decided she'd just get back to get her books before heading to class.

"Sooo, who are we looking for?" a familiar voice behind her said causing Trina to jump slightly.

Spinning around she was surprised to see Justin standing and smiling at her. Happy to see him, Trina quickly threw hugged him instead of answering him. Even though Trina heard Justin give a small laugh, she felt him hug her back.

As she stepped away, Trina returned his smile. "I'm sorry if I sound conceited, but I'm guessing you were looking for me?" Justin asked.

Blushing slightly, Trina answered, "Yeah. Sorry Justin. I'm just really happy to see you."

"Well thank you and don't worry. I'm glad to see you today," Justin answered. Just like yesterday, Trina was overcome with happiness talking to him. '_And he's glad to see me,'_ she told herself. That only added to her happiness.

"So I'm glad to see you're feeling better. How'd the rest of yesterday go for you?" Justin asked her.

"Not bad actually," Trina admitted. She wasn't lying. Even though she just did homework, she'd felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders from her talk with Justin. "Kind of uneventful; I had to finish homework for Gitlin's History class."

Justin groaned. "Ah yes; our easy, but very long, boring, required class," he said.

This time Trina was the one who laughed. "So true. It's not my favorite class either, but it's an easy A," Trina said shrugging her shoulders.

Justin grinned at her. "I'll give you that," he said. "So, ready to go to class?"

Trina finished grabbing her books and closed her locker. "I am now," she said happily.

"Then off to Film and American Society we go," Justin said pointing the way earning another laugh from Trina. "Shall we," Justin asked.

"We shall," Trina said as they both started walking. As the two made their way to their class, Trina looked back and saw her sister and her friends' faces. Judging by their dropped jaws, they were shocked to see her walking with Justin. This only brightened Trina's day more and the bell hadn't even rung yet.

_(Break to the Asphalt Café)_

"I swear I can never understand what Dr. Brown says in Biochem?" Trina said as she and Justin made their way to Festus' truck. "If it weren't for the book I'd have no chance of passing that class," she said.

"What I have yet to figure out is why someone who gets a doctoral degree in science and even wrote the textbook they use for the class would pick to work at a performing arts high school instead of a university somewhere," Justin answered.

She smirked as she looked at him. "How much you wanna bet it's another attempt by a teacher to get famous based on where they teach?" she asked Justin.

Justin returned her expression, "Well taking into account that you've probably hit the nail on the head with that guess, I wouldn't want to take that bet."

The two teens laughed when they got to the Grub Truck.

"What can Festus get for you," the only employee of the Grub Truck asked. Before either could answer, Festus turned to the back of the bus and shouted, "Keep chopping frog legs for today's special."

Justin and Trina exchanged looks before Trina said, "I think I'm just in the mood for a salad."

"Ditto," Justin answered. After the pair got their salads Trina started looking around for a place to sit.

"So where do you wanna sit?" Trina asked Justin.

He looked at her for a second before saying, "How 'bout over there?' Justin said nodding towards a table.

Trina looked at the table Justin suggested and felt a wave of uncertainty. '_I should have guessed,'_ Trina told herself. The table Justin proposed sitting at was where the four other All-Stars were eating. No matter how comforted she felt having Justin around her, Trina still wasn't sure what his friends would think about her. Yes, she had never been directly rejected by them, but none of them really branched out.

However, Trina began to think back to yesterday and what Justin said about the group: '_we certainly don't consider ourselves any different from the other people here. We've all just been friends for years so we hang out with each other. People just seem to be too intimidated to talk to us.'_

She turned to Justin and asked, "What if your friends don't like me?"

Justin raised one of his eyebrows at her. "What if they do like you," he said back.

Trina took another look back at the group and let out a sigh. "I guess it's worth a try."

Before she started walking towards the table she felt something grasp her hand and a warmth rush through her. Looking down she saw another hand enclosed around hers and realized it was Justin's. Looking up at her she saw him smiling. "Don't forget, I'm here," he said. And with that, the two walked toward the table.

As they got closer, Allen looked up noticing Justin and Trina. He got the attention of the other three and soon all the four remaining All-Stars were looking at them. Trina's breath halted in her chest. '_What do I do? Should I say something? Should I just stay quiet?...?'_ All sorts of questions flew through Trina's head about what she should do. Just then a voice interrupted her thought process. "Well look who decided to grace us with their presence. Late as usual."

At first Trina thought she should just step away, thinking the statement was directed at her. Before she could Justin answered, "Just because I'm as thankful as anyone when Biochem ends, doesn't mean I'm make a mad dash for lunch when it's over Allen."

Allen simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe, but still, it's the only way to get good tables out here, avoid a line at the grub truck, and satisfy hunger quicker."

As Trina listened in on the conversation she saw Nora give her boyfriend an exasperated look. "I keep telling you, you need to try eating breakfast," she said.

"Yeah I don't think anyone eats breakfast anymore," Allen responded.

Everyone else at the table exchanged looks of confusion, even Justin and Trina. After a minute or two Justin said, "And with that Family Guy reference and awkward silence, we'll sit down," as he and Trina sat down at the table.

When Trina sat down she knew she wasn't imagining everyone starring at her. At first she avoided looking up, but then curiosity got the better of her and she looked around the table. When she did, she earned a smile from Sean and Kathleen, the two members who hadn't said anything yet. "And who's this you've brought to join us today Justin?" Sean asked.

"Everyone, allow me to introduce our fellow senior and rising star, Trina Vega," Justin said gesturing to Trina.

"Hi," Trina said shyly, with a slight wave to the group, still unsure whether she'd be accepted or not.

"Nice to meet you," Sean said. Gesturing to Kathleen, Sean started to say, "I'm Sean and this is my girlfriend, Kath-."

"We've already met," Kathleen interrupted. When Trina gave her a look of confusion, she simply smiled and said, "We we're partnered up for Biology in sophomore year? We had to dissect the frog," she finished with a slight groan.

Trina shuddered remembering the class. "Certainly I class I don't miss," she said. That earned her a laugh from most of the group.

Trina looked at the remaining members she was only slightly familiar with. Noticing her look, Allen responded, "I'm Allen and this is MY girlfriend, Nora," gesturing to the blonde girl next to him.

"Hi," Nora simply said, before turning back to her food.

The cold greeting caused Trina to pullback slightly and look down at her hands in her lap. Her motion didn't go unnoticed. Justin saw the effect of Nora's indifference, giving the blonde a disapproving look. Seeing his friend's face, Allen nudged his girlfriend who saw Justin's look.

To break the following uncomfortable silence, Kathleen jumped in. "So…Trina, how are all your classes going right now?"

Snapping back to the conversation, Trina said, "Not too bad. Just hanging in there and taking it one day at a time."

Trina suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Justin looking at her. "That's all any of us can really do in high school," he said.

"Yeah, especially for us trying to make it big in Hollywood," Sean said to Justin's comment. "We just study hard, practice our lines, and hope for all our work will lead to an album or a big role in a movie."

"Or a cameo on the Disney channel," Trina added. "You get one of those and you're guaranteed a movie role or two."

Once again, Trina's comment caused the whole table to laugh; she even she saw Nora crack a smile.

"That is so true," Kathleen said. "I mean look at Selina Gomez. She has a small role, she gets on that Wizards school show, a movie or two, and now she's dating Justin Bieber."

"Which I'm guessing won't last once that guy finally stops going through perpetual puberty," Allen said. This finally caused the whole table to erupt in laughter.

Trina had to admit, she was enjoying herself. Despite Nora's negative comments towards her, she felt something she hadn't felt in a long time from the rest of the All-Stars: acceptance. People were finally listening and responding to her. It brightened her entire day.

Trina was so where she was, she didn't even look over at where Tori and her friends were sitting. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Trina, the girl with an ego big enough for an entire class, who had almost no talent, and practically no social circle was sitting with the group of students everyone considered the best of the best at Hollywood Arts?

"Okay what is up with Trina Tori?" Andre asked his friend.

"Why are you asking me," Tori said just as confused.

"Well Vega, she's your sister," Jade snapped. "It's one thing for her to turn down poker last night, which in and of itself is weird enough. Now she shows up and is friends with bunch of students who already have their careers set and the hottest guy in Hollywood Arts!" she said.

"Hey!" Beck jumped in with.

"You know what I mean," Jade retorted.

"I think what Jade's trying to say is, why Trina seems so different today?" Cat asked a lot calmer.

"I don't know guys. She was even acting different this morning," Tori said, remembering her sister being ready so early."

"You think she could introduce me to the All-Stars?" Robbie asked.

"Why don't you just introduce yourself the way you do to Northridge girls: let them take your wallet and then you walk away," Rex answered.

After lunch Trina went to her next class. All through her last class, her thoughts kept flashing back to meeting Justin's friends. Despite the fear she had felt before meeting them, she felt that had they openly accepted her. Except for one that is.

Even though the rest of the table seemed to accept Trina, she felt that Nora wasn't even giving her a chance. No matter how happy Trina had felt to be sitting with such well-known students, she still felt a sense of rejection from Nora's cold reception. She sighed at the thought of that oh so familiar feeling as she grabbed her books from of her locker.

"Doing okay," someone asked from behind her.

Trina turned around to see Justin. There was a slight look of concern on his face; almost as if he could read how she was feeling.

She gave him a slight smile. "I'm pretty good; just got done with AP Stage Fighting."

Justin returned her smile, raising one of his eyebrows with suspicion. "I'm guessing since you're taking the advanced version of that class it's one of your favorites?"

Trina couldn't help but blush at his response. It was true; the class was her favorite. It gave her a chance to incorporate her martial arts lessons into her education. Doing so gave a chance to practice both.

"So, out of curiosity, what did you think of my other friends today?" Justin asked her.

"They were nice," Trina honestly said. "It's just…I don't think Nora likes me very much."

"I'm not so sure actually," Justin said.

Trina was confused. "Ugh, I don't mean to question how well you know your friend, but she just ignored me the entire time."

"If it were anyone else, I'd say your right," Justin said, "but Nora's different. Believe me, if she didn't like you, she would've told you right out."

"…So what do you think she was doing?" Trina asked.

Justin shrugged. "My guess is she was 'sizing you up,' he said with air quotes. "I really don't know, but then again I don't think even Allen understands half of what she does and their three year anniversary's coming up," he said.

They both laughed at that.

As they stood there in silence for a moment, Trina had to ask one question she'd been thinking over since yesterday. "So that offer you made yesterday about helping me practice…you think we could start this week?" she asked.

"Of course," Justin said. "I still don't know what play they plan on doing here yet, but we can work on whatever you like."

"Great," Trina said enthusiastically. A second later, the pair realized they didn't have much time to get to their next class.

"Well I'm off to French III," Trina said.

"Yeah, I've got Spanish III," Justin responded.

"Okay now that is a class I can definitely help you with," Trina said.

"I'll remember that," Justin replied heading off.

Trina couldn't help but shake her head at his humor heading the opposite direction.

A little while later, her foreign language course was over and Trina got her books together.

"Hey," Trina heard behind her.

She turned around and found herself face to face with Kathleen.

Trina was a bit surprised, but since Kathleen had seemed enthusiastic talking with her earlier she didn't see any harm in talking to her. "What's up" Trina asked.

"Not much," the cheerful girl replied. "I just thought we could talk for a bit before we left."

"I'd like that," Trina said. And with that, the two left the classroom and started to walk towards their respective lockers.

They were relatively silent at first before Kathleen chimed in, "So how've you been doing in Madame Collect's class?"

"Good so far," Trina answered. "I am curious as to why she's brought in French dancers before."

Kathleen laughed at the earlier class. "I think she just does that to brag about her French heritage."

They both laughed at the comment.

"So, I was thinking," Kathleen started, "We've had some classes together and have some now, but I feel like I don't really know you that well."

Trina didn't mind the comment. In all honesty, she didn't really know any personal information about the All-Stars.

"And since you and Justin seem to be friends no I was wondering if we could hang out some to get to know each other better," Kathleen asked.

Trina was taken back at the idea. Not because she didn't want to, but now another All-Star wanted to be friends with her?

"Sounds great," Trina said back excited. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well Nora and I were planning on heading to the mall Thursday; do you wanna come with us?" Kathleen asked.

Try as she might not to show it, Trina felt some hesitation. She still couldn't shake the fact that Nora didn't like her and being in a situation where Justin wouldn't be around to play mediator could only make it worse. Then again, if she was going to be friends with Justin, she would have to try and cope with his other friends.

"I'm in," Trina said, earning a slight squeal of excitement from Kathleen.

"Awesome," she said.

"I might need a ride though," Trina said. Her Pontiac was due to be serviced this week. She would be able to get her and Tori to and from school Thursday, but her dad would be taking it to the service station once they got home and it would take until early Saturday morning for all the repairs to be finished.

"That's no problem; we can pick you up." Kathleen answered.

"Okay then, I'll give you my address tomorrow," Trina said smiling.

"Sounds good and see ya then," Kathleen said before heading off.

As Trina headed for the exit herself, she smiled brightly as she felt the sun hit her. She'd just had the best day at school in forever: She proved to the school that her Justin Cisco was her friend, she had met the other All-Stars without being shunned, and she was invited to hang out with two of them two days later.

'_Couldn't ask for a better day,' _Trina told herself while she walked to her car and her waiting sister.

_(Two Days Later)_

After class Thursday, Trina couldn't help but think back over the past few days.

As she expected, the second she got in her car Tuesday she was bombarded with questions by Tori about when she became friends with Justin and why she was sitting with the All-Stars now. Still feeling some bitterness towards Tori for what she'd heard Monday, Trina didn't tell how she officially was re-introduced to Justin. Instead, she simply shrugged her shoulders and said, "I ran into Justin, we started talking, and he invited me to sit them."

Tori had simply stared in confusion after this, not quite understanding Trina's answer, but not questioning any further.

Wednesday had pretty much gone the same way Tuesday had. Classes were the same as always, but whenever lunch rolled around Trina felt that she could sit with the All-Stars without having to worry about any refusal from them.

Still, whenever she did Nora seemed distant. The blonde girl didn't seem to talk much to anyone since Trina started sitting with them. No matter what she explanation she thought of, Trina wasn't sure what she had done that could have made Nora act in such a way. Despite this, she still occasionally felt Nora studying her when she thought Trina wasn't looking.

When Trina and Justin had a minute to talk during the hallway, she asked him if there was any way he could come with her and the other girls to the mall. Unfortunately, he said it was a workout day for him, Allen, and Sean. Sensing Trina's anxiety, Justin just told her to relax and to remember to be herself.

It turned out that Trina didn't have to drive Tori home Thursday. The younger Vega needed to stay after school to help Andre re-write some of his song lyrics and he was going to give her a ride home again. Trina couldn't help feeling relieved because she was willing to bet that if Tori knew she was going shopping with Kathleen and Nora, she would have begged to come along and Trina really wasn't in the mood to argue with her sister about why she couldn't come.

So Kathleen followed Trina to her house with Nora in the tow and once they reached the Vega residence, Trina jumped out of her car, ran inside to drop the keys off, and jumped in Kathleen's Civic.

On the ride to the mall, Trina kept thinking about what they could discuss. She wasn't worried about alienating Kathleen at this point. She just didn't want to give Nora any reason to possibly dislike her further.

After browsing a few stores once they arrived, the trio walked into "New York & Company" to look around some more. Kathleen said that she needed to find a new pair of heels for some event she was going to the following night.

As Kathleen rushed off to look for some on her own, Trina felt uncomfortable being alone and around Nora. So to occupy herself, Trina just looked around at some dresses and other accessories.

Trina heard a slight cough behind her. She turned to see Nora with staring her down with her arms folded across her chest. Trina wasn't sure if she'd irritated the girl or if Nora was just trying to intimidate her. Either way, Trina took a step back just to be cautious.

"Is something wrong," Trina asked.

Nora just gave her a slightly confused look before she said, "Look, for the past three days I've been watching you; seeing how you act whenever you're around me and my friends."

Trina felt a slight unease knowing that the girl had been watching her and worried about what was to come.

"So, after several observations and internal debates, I feel there's something I need to say to you," Nora said.

Trina gulped. _'Here it comes,'_ she thought. _'She's going to tell me how much she doesn't like me and to stay away from all of them.'_

Nora gave a heavy sigh before looking at Trina who was bracing herself for what she knew was to come.

**And that's it. Again, sorry it's so long. I'm just having a hard time trying to conceive a certain time period when I keep getting ideas for some plot devices that are a ways out. I know that changing Trina's behavior so soon after her realizing how superficial some of her methods are was probably not the best approach. They're just meant to be subtle changes as she begins to overcome everyone's negative judgments. **

**Please review once you have read if you can. Like I said, I know this chapter isn't that good and sorry about the cliffhanger. It'll be covered pretty early on in the next chapter which I'm thinking will be a lot shorter and up within the next few days (famous last words). Also, I figured out an idea for the play that will become a bit more important later on. *Avoiding discussing right now.*****FINAL NOTE:**** This is the last chapter where the story will have the name "****Revelations and AlterationsTrina is Done****." With the next chapter, I'm just making the title Trina is Done from now on, so look for that if you try and find it.**


	8. Surprises All Around

**Hello again. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my story and an additional thank you to those of you who've taken the time to review. As always I'm not sure what to think of the current chapter. I almost divided it into two chapters, but I didn't want to leave you with two cliffhangers back to back. This is an altered version of the 'Driving Tori Crazy' episode; thought I try reinterpreting one episode for once. The inspiration behind the rest of the material is how similar events happen to the other main characters, but whenever Trina tries to partake in them, she either is forced to invite herself or shot down by the others (recent example in Andre's Horrible Girl when Tori acted like she didn't know her). This chapter is probably a little bit out there and too fanciful, plus it's extremely overdue, but I'd like to see your reaction.**

**I probably won't be able to update again until next Friday since my finals are this coming week and I've got to put in a lot of time to them. However, after I read the description for the new episode of Victorious (we find out how Trina got into HA), I decided to go ahead and finish this chapter. I'm a little concerned about some of the stories that will fly around in this episode; I know they can't use some of the explicit reasons we see in other stories on this site, but who knows. Just have to trust Dan Schneider. Please read, review, and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Victorious or anything mentioned in this.**

_**Previously**_

_"So, after several observations and internal debates, I feel there's something I need to say to you," Nora said._

_Trina gulped. __'Here it comes,'__ she thought. __'She's going to tell me how much she doesn't like me and to stay away from all of them.'_

_Nora gave a heavy sigh before looking at Trina who was bracing herself for what she knew was to come._

"I'm sorry," Nora said.

Try as she might, Trina couldn't hide her surprise and confusion. _'I'm sorry?' _ What did she mean? Yes, Nora didn't exactly seem as welcoming as the other All-Stars, but Trina couldn't think of anything she had to be sorry for.

As Trina was trying to figure out the situation, Nora was staring at her with anticipation etched on her face. "Are you okay," she asked, bringing Trina back to reality.

"Yeah, I'm good," Trina said. "I'm just…what are you apologizing for?"

Nora seemed to be attempting to avoid making eye contact with Trina. "I guess I'm sorry for being kinda rude to you this week," she said.

Trina was definitely surprised now. She honestly hadn't thought of Nora's behavior towards her as rude. Then again, after being around Jade so many times and everyone else's negative attitudes towards her, she probably had just built up a high tolerance to insults.

"It's okay," Trina said, trying to sound reassuring. "Don't worry about it."

"No, no," Nora responded. "I shouldn't have skipped ahead to being ready to reject you when I don't even know you."

At first Trina slightly tensed up hearing that Nora was about to reject her, but when she heard that she didn't have any reason to calmed her down again. "Well…thank you," Trina said.

"It's just," Nora said, looking at the floor. She finally sighed deeply before looking directly at Trina. "Amber was my best friend," she said.

Trina could hear the hurt in Nora's voice as she mentioned the ex-Hollywood Arts student, former All-Star, and Justin's ex-girlfriend.

"We'd been friends for as long as I could remember; before Hollywood Arts, before middle school, even before either of us met Justin and the others," Nora went on, slightly distressed recalling her past. "When we started at Hollywood Arts, even though Justin wasn't there our first year, we were both thrilled at the chance to reach our dreams. Obviously it didn't happen quite the way we thought," Nora said, definitely troubled bringing up what Trina could tell were painful memories.

"I know that me, Kathy, Allen, and Sean developed that whole 'superiority complex' that practically every HA student has, but we got over ourselves once Justin was back with us. Amber, on the other hand," Nora said, "nothing seemed to get her to realize how conceited we'd been and when Justin tried to help her see it, she not only cheated on him, but abandoned all of us and the dream she'd had since 3rd grade."

Trina couldn't help but feel pity for the girl in front of her. Even though she hadn't heard how he'd taken it, she was sure that Justin felt the same as any girl who cheated on her boyfriend without remorse. Now that she was seeing Nora' s emotions so many years after it happened, she realized Amber's left an impact on all her close friends.

Now Nora was staring at Trina with a hard look. "When you sat with us for the first time on Tuesday, it made me think about how I've seen you act towards most other students and during classes," she said. "Not to be rude, but you acted a lot like Amber did before she left: arrogant, conceited, and bossy. I thought that that was how you were going to be around us."

Trina felt her mood slowly drop. She flashed back to Monday: Lindsay and her friends' smug attitudes; Tori and the others insulting her when they thought she wasn't around. It was one thing to hear how others Trina had hung around with acted towards her, but hearing someone she barely knew say she saw how she had acted before meeting Justin made her wonder if any of his friends would accept her.

"But," Nora interrupted her train of thought, "after having you sit and talk with us and seeing how much Justin seems to like you, I see that I was wrong to think that that's all there was to you."

Trina looked back up at Nora, surprised to see that the girl was smiling.

"You're actually really nice, and funny, and smart," Nora said. "And Justin and the rest of my close friends like you so I guess I could give you a chance."

Any negative feelings Trina had been feeling before were gone now. Sure she knew she hadn't exactly gained Nora's full trust yet, but she would do what she could to prove she wasn't the person people had assumed her to be.

Trina returned Nora's smile. "I really appreciate that," she said.

After a moment of silence between the two, Nora said, "So again, I'm sorry for the bad assumptions."

"It's okay," Trina assured her. "I guess at some level I've always been aware of how people didn't like me. Despite that, I guess I just ignored their rejection until I actually heard it out loud this week."

"What do you mean?" Nora asked.

Trina hesitated for a moment. She'd only told Justin the minor details about what she'd heard Monday; she didn't mention any names of course, but she had told him the content of what they said and how she thought they were her friends. _'Can I trust her too,' _Trina asked herself. After considering how Nora might react, Trina decided if she wanted her friendship she would have to work towards building trust with her. After all, Nora had just disclosed something very personal to her.

So, Trina told Nora the same thing she had told Justin: withholding names, she described overhearing how the people she only wanted acceptance from insulted her, how she felt afterwards, and how she ran into Justin in the Black Box. As she revealed the events from earlier in the week she saw the change in Nora's expression: shock when Trina told her some of the things she overheard, pity when she told her all the thoughts she had while skipping classes that day, and hearing her "Awww" when she told her how Justin sort of came to her rescue.

When Trina was done she waited for Nora's response. She could tell the blonde was carefully considering what to say. After a moment, Nora reached up and put her hand on Trina's shoulder before saying, "None of us will ever treat you that poorly. Screw whoever said those things about you. You don't need them," she said, giving Trina a look of assurance.

Trina felt happiness radiate through her as she felt Nora's friendship. "Thanks," she said.

Suddenly, the two girls heard a squeak of excitement and slight applause. They turned to see Kathleen watching them, with a giant smile on her face. "So, we're all friends now right?" she asked.

Trina and Nora looked back and forth from each other to Kathleen for a moment before Nora gave a slight laugh. "We're getting there," she said.

"Great," Kathleen said. "Because I really need to make sure I need to make sure I have something good to wear for tomorrow night," she said.

Trina was curious about what could be so important about the following night, but then again it was Friday; so she was sure Kathleen would likely be doing something with Sean.

Nora turned back to face Trina, "I almost forgot to ask: What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Oh, uhh," Trina stuttered. She honestly didn't know. Now that she was determined to break away from Tori's group, wasn't sure what she would so on nights where homework was no longer an excuse. "I guess I don't have any real plans," she admitted.

"Well the five of us are going to a somewhat private screening of 'The Hunger Games' and then a party afterwards. Ya think you might want to join us?" Nora asked.

Trina was overcome with excitement. She absolutely loved the book 'The Hunger Games.' Katniss was one of her favorite literary characters. Mostly because she felt she could identify with her: struggling to survive in a life where everything was against her, being put down by people for trying to get by, and constantly feeling alone. Trina was thrilled when she heard there was going to be a movie about it.

Originally, she had planned to go see it with Tori, who was also a fan of the book, but then her sister had backed out, saying she was waiting for a time that all her friends could go as well.

Now however, Trina was getting a chance to go with the All-Stars and then a party afterwards. This was slowly turning out to be the best week of her life.

"You think the others would mind if I tagged along?" Trina asked.

The two girls looked at each other for a moment, before Kathleen answered back. "Of course not. Even if we didn't bring it up, I'm positive you would have been invited anyway."

Trina was confused. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"You're pretty much the only girl that Justin has shown any interest in since he and Amber broke up." Nora explained. "Every time we've all done something together we've either had to set him up with some random person or he's had to act as an escort for some new superficial, potential celebrity his folks are helping out. Needless to say, each event hasn't convinced him to end this dating hiatus he's been on," Nora said.

Trina suddenly felt sorry for the actor. Like she'd thought before, Justin seemed the outsider of the All-Stars since he was the only single member. Even though she knew better now, she'd thought that he considered himself better than everyone, but now that she heard that he was purposely staying that way because of how his previous relationship ended, she knew the reason was much deeper.

"But when you're around," Nora interjected, "he seems a lot more comfortable and cheerful."

Trina blushed at Nora's statement. Justin had seen her at her most vulnerable, let her open herself up to him and done the same with her, and introduced her to his closest friends. _'Could Justin like me,'_ Trina asked herself.

Immediately after her internal conversation, she heard her phone ringing in her purse. She pulled it out to see who it was, thrilled when she saw the contact 'Justin Cisco (friend).'

She excused herself from Kathleen and Nora while she took the call. "Hello," Trina answered.

"Hey. How's it going? Nora's not torturing you is she?" she heard Justin ask.

"No," Trina said back laughing. "It's going great. I think she's starting to like me."

"Well terrific. I'm glad," Justin said, sounding a bit off.

"Something wrong," Trina asked.

"No, nothing's wrong," Justin said quickly. After what seemed like forever, but actually lasted one minute, Trina heard Justin ask, "So I was wondering: what are you doing tomorrow night?"

Trina's heart rose as she heard the question. Looking back at her two companions, she immediately felt pretty sure about what was coming. "Nothing really," Trina answered. "Why do you ask," she said, feigning ignorance.

"Well, me and the others are going to the movies tomorrow night and there's a party afterward that we thought we'd go to," Justin said. "Would you like to go with us?"

"I'd love to," Trina answered, giving a short pause so that her excitement didn't show.

"Terrific," Justin said. "I'll see you tomorrow and we can discuss when I'll pick you up."

"Great," Trina replied. "See ya then."

"All right," Justin said. "Enjoy the rest of your shopping. Oh, and before I forget, talk to the girls about what to wear for tomorrow. It's a little bit of a formal occasion."

"Okay," Trina said slightly confused. "Bye,"

"Bye," Justin said back.

After they hung up, Trina looked at Nora and Kathleen to see the two girls grinning; they knew who she'd been talking to and what the conversation was about.

Trina extended her arms to the side before saying, "Guess it's official that I'm coming with you all now."

"Awesome," Kathleen responded. "Now, what are you gonna wear? I don't know if Justin told you, but it's kind of formal."

"Well, I've got plenty that I could wear, but," Trina answered, with a smirk, "what do you think would be best?"

Once again, Nora and Kathleen exchanged looks before turning back to Trina smirking.

"Tell us what you have first, and we'll go from there," Kathleen said as she and Nora pulled Trina away.

As the three walked further into the store, Nora looked at Trina and said, "By the way Miss Vega, congratulations. You have a date with Justin Cisco."

_(The Next Day)_

Trina was rushing to make sure that she had all of her stuff ready for school. As she had done the rest of the week, she'd spent less time getting ready in the morning, which she knew was confusing her family. However, since her car was still getting serviced and wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning, she had to get ready even earlier since Andre was going to have to drive her and Tori to school. She was dressed and ready for school that day, but she'd forgotten to pack up the night before. So since she had taken the time to eat breakfast, she was now limited in how much time she had before Andre arrived.

When she was finally ready she made her way down the stairs. She'd heard Tori go down a few minutes ago so Trina knew her sister was already waiting, but when she got to the living room, she didn't see her.

Confused, Trina called out to her sister, "Tori, where are you? Andre will be here any second." There was no response. After a second, Trina looked at the clock and saw it was 7:20. She gasped. _"Andre was going to pick the two up at 7:15," _she recalled. _'Did they just leave me here?'_ She couldn't believe her sister would forget about her, but it was apparently true. And with her parents already gone as well, the only option left to Trina was for her to either run or try and bike to school that day.

As she let out a sigh of both despair and anger she heard her phone ringing. Thinking it was Tori possibly, Trina answered it without looking to see who it was. "Hello," Trina answered.

"Hey, what's up?" It wasn't her sister; it was Justin. _'Why is he calling so early,'_ Trina thought.

Trina let out another sigh over the phone. "I have no car to drive to school, my parents have already left, and the ride I thought I was going to get apparently forgot me."

"Trina," Justin started, but Trina interrupted him.

"How am I going to get there in time?" she asked before she started ranting. "Classes start in 25 minutes. I know I could bike or run and make it, but I don't want to be all sweaty before classes even start."

"Trina," Justin tried again.

"What am I going to do?" she asked in panic. "I have a huge assignment due first period and a test right after that. I can't miss or be late today."

"TRINA," Justin said, sounding slightly frustrated.

"WHAT?" Trina said back, slightly exasperated.

"Look outside," Justin said back calmly.

Confused, Trina went back through the house and out the front door, before stopping dead in her tracks, shocked at what she saw.

_(Break to Hollywood Arts)_

Tori and Andre walked into Hollywood Arts and over to their group of friends once they arrived.

"Hey guys," Beck said. "How's it going?"

"Just great," Tori answered sarcastically as she grabbed some hand sanitizer out of her locker.

Sniffing the air, Robbie asked, "Did someone have oatmeal for breakfast?"

Tori gave him a hard look. "Oh yes Robbie. Andre's grandma did on our way over here. She even finished it after she poured it into my hands since she didn't trust me to hold her mug."

"Now that's just weird," the curly haired boy's puppet answered causing Tori to roll her eyes.

"Yeah, sorry about that Tori," Andre apologized before saying, "Quick question though, where was Trina?"

"What do you mean? She's clearly here somewhere," Tori said back. Her sister's car wasn't parked outside this morning so Tori figured she left her. While she was angry it wasn't like it hadn't happened before. She was just glad Andre showed up to get her to school, despite the unpleasant experience with his grandma.

"I thought you said you both needed a ride because her car's being worked on," Andre said raising his eyebrow.

At first Tori was confused by his statement before the realization hit her. "Oh crap I forgot! Trina's car's getting serviced," she said out loud. Tori had _asked_ Andre to pick them both up. Trina was still at home with no way of getting to school.

Her friends all stared at her with surprised looks on their faces. "How forgetful can you be Vega? You just automatically assume that Andre goes out of his way to drive by your house and let you ride with him to school and don't even think about where your sister is?" Jade asked her.

"Don't be so harsh Jade," Beck told her, but it didn't stop Tori from feeling bad.

"We've got to go back for her," Tori told Andre.

Her friend shrugged. "I don't want Trina to get written up for being late, but if we have to go back to your house we'll probably be late too," Andre said.

"Come on Andre, please," Tori begged. Finally, Andre sighed and they both turned and went back outside towards Andre's car. But the second they made it through the exit doors they stopped in surprise at what they saw.

In one of the front parking spaces, they saw the sleek, black Pontiac Firehawk everyone knew belonged to Justin Cisco, but that wasn't what shocked them. Justin had gone over to open the passenger side door…and stepping out was none other than Trina.

Even though Tori and Andre were undoubtedly the most surprised, it was as if time seemed to stop as every other student in the area seemed to freeze when Justin and Trina made their way to the entrance. While people normally moved out of the way to let Justin through, seeing him with Trina was obviously something no one would have ever expected.

Tori was searching her mind for what to say to Trina: _'Sorry; please forgive me; how do you know Justin; what's going on…'_ but she kept drawing a blank. When the pair finally got to the door, Justin stepped ahead and held the door open for Trina. Tori couldn't help but notice that as Trina passed, her sister didn't speak to or even acknowledge her.

As she watched Trina and Justin walk away, Tori thought that she heard someone calling her name. She suddenly felt someone shaking her which brought her back to reality as she turned to Andre, realizing he was the one trying to get her attention.

"You okay?" Andre asked, looking concerned.

"Ye…yeah," Tori answered, unsure about how to respond.

Even though Andre could tell Tori was overcome with shock, he was too, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back inside the school. "Come on; we got to get to class," he said.

Tori was still dazed and confused, so she simply followed Andre off to class, trying to snap herself out of her trance.

_(Later that day; 5:55 PM)_

Trina gave herself another quick check in the mirror. Even though she wasn't as concerned about her appearance when she was getting ready in the morning for school anymore, she couldn't help but worry now. Especially considering that she had sorta been asked out by Justin.

She didn't have to buy much shopping yesterday. She already had most of what she was wearing, but she still insisted that Nora and Kathleen give her some advice about what to wear so that she could impress Justin. So for tonight's purposes, she was wearing a simple black dress that hung off her shoulders, a necklace she had gotten for her sixteenth birthday, and a pair of heels. She'd also decided to straighten her hair. It wasn't that it looked bad when she left it naturally curled; she just thought that it went better with the rest of her attire.

After a quick spray of perfume, she checked her phone to see what time it was. Justin had said that he'd pick her up at 6:00 so she had a few minutes to spare. She still wasn't sure why she needed to be formal for going to the movies and a party. Earlier she'd thought they were just playing some cruel joke on her, but then she shook her head no. No matter how everyone else had treated her, Trina knew Justin and the others were sincere. After all, what had Nora said to her yesterday? _'None of us will ever treat you that poorly.'_

As she made her way to the staircase, Trina heard some furniture being moved around. _'Probably Tori and the others,'_ she thought. It didn't surprise her they were over at her house again. It was after all the only place that was fairly normal when compared to the others' homes.

When she was finally able to see them, she saw they were setting up the poker table again. No matter what night they came over or what they originally intended to do, they always ended up back at the table playing cards. At this point it was just routine to set it up once they arrived.

At first they were all too busy to see Trina coming down the stairs, but once she hit the step that always squeaked she knew they would be aware of someone coming down. Beck took a break for a second to see what caused the noise. When Trina saw him look up she thought he'd just go back to work, but then she was struggling to suppress her laughter as he did a double-take and his jaw dropped after getting a good look at Trina.

Everyone else saw Beck's look and were confused at first, but when they turned and saw Trina on the stairs, they all shared his expression. Trina took a moment to carefully store the scene in her mind. "Are you all okay?" she asked innocently.

For a while, none of them said anything. Finally, Andre spoke up, "Dang girl! Where you goin' all fancied up?"

"Oh, I'm going out tonight," Trina answered. "I got invited to a movie and a party afterwards."

"Wait, wait," Jade stuttered. "With Justin?"

"Yeah," Trina answered. She heard her phone ring and checked to see a text from Justin. '_We're here,'_ was all it said. Depositing her phone back in her purse, Trina looked back at the still shocked group. "Well my ride's here. Don't' wait up," she said as she walked backwards outside the door. When she turned around, Trina was probably even more surprised than the people inside her house.

She'd expected to see Justin waiting in his Pontiac. Instead, there was a black limousine parked in her driveway. Cautiously walking up to it, she saw a door and Justin step out. When she saw how he was dressed, all of Trina's concerns about being too dressed up left her. Justin was wearing a black suit with a black shirt underneath the jacket; honestly, since all he seemed to wear was black shirts at school, Trina wasn't surprised at his choice in fashion.

He saw the surprise on her face at their transportation. "Surprised?" he asked. Trina looked back and forth between him and the car. "All of this to see a movie and go to a party?" Trina asked. Justin grinned at her. "Well, there's a little more to it than that, but it's a surprise," he said gesturing into the limo. Overcome with curiosity, Trina made her way to the door and stepped inside. Just before she was all the way in, she heard Justin whisper to her, "You look beautiful by the way," causing her to blush.

After taking her seat, Trina looked saw that the rest of the All-Stars were already there. Just like her, Kathleen and Nora were wearing dresses and Sean and Allen were wearing suits like Justin. "You all look great," Trina said, earning a smile from each of them.

"Thanks, you do too," Kathleen said. Sean nodded in agreement.

As the ride continued, they all sat in silence. Trina was curious about why it was taking so long. After all, the movie theater wasn't that far away. It was after all where the majority of the fieldtrips Hollywood Arts took their students too. So after an unknown amount of time, Trina asked, "Not to be rude, but why is it taking so long for us to get to the movie theater?"

The other passengers exchanged looks before Justin spoke up, "Well…we're not going to Carmike for this particular showing."

Trina was confused about where they could be heading. Suddenly she felt startled. "You all aren't going to kill me are you?"

"No," Kathleen said laughing. "Remember Nora saying that we were going to a private screening?"

"Yeah," Trina answered.

"Well," Nora jumped in, "it's not private in that we're the only ones who'll get to see it, but more like not just anyone can get to see it where we're headed."

Now Trina was really confused. "I don't understand," she said.

Before anyone could respond, the limo made a sharp turn and began to slow down. Trina noticed several lights and flashes going off outside the limo as they pulled up to wherever they were.

"You'll see soon enough," Justin said, giving her a reassuring smile.

The limo came to a complete stop at wherever they were. Trina made a move to get out, but was held back by Justin. After a moment, Trina saw that the chauffeur had made his way around the limo and was at opening the door for them to exit. First, Allen and Nora stepped out, followed by Kathleen and Sean, and then Justin stepped out before offering his hand to help Trina out.

Trina took it and as she stepped out of the limo, she was immediately blinded by several camera flashes going off. After blinking several times to she looked up and saw what looked like the roof of a Chinese restaurant. Giving her head a shake and looking down to rub her eyes her vision began to return. When it did, she stared carefully at something written on the concrete block close to where she was standing. Once she was finally able to read it, Trina gasped at what it said: "Meryl Streep September 25, 1994." It suddenly hit Trina full force about where she was; she was at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. She wasn't just at a showing of 'The Hunger Games' movie…she was at the Hollywood premiere.

Try as she might, Trina couldn't hide her surprise and excitement. She quickly looked at Justin to see he was grinning at her reaction. "Surprised?" he asked.

"Uh huh," Trina answered quietly, still overcome. They finally started walking towards the entrance; as they did, Trina's eyes were darting back and forth at the photographers surrounding them. She even saw several celebrities being interviewed.

Suddenly she heard someone cry out, "Mr. Cisco, Mr. Cisco. Can we please get a picture of you and your lovely date?"

Trina heard Justin sigh, before he turned to her and asked, "I hate to ask this, but do you mind?"

"Of course not," Trina answered. They both slowly turned around to face the reporters. One they did Trina felt Justin's arm encircle her waist. As always, she felt a warmth rush through her when she was near him. So she moved close enough to Justin so she could place her left arm around him, just before the cameras flashed.

Once the pictures were taken the two hurried inside to catch up with the others. When they got so far, Justin told her, "I am so sorry about that. The paparazzi are the one thing that I do not look forward to if I make it in show business."

"It's okay," Trina assured him. "I just hope that you looked okay standing next to me."

Turning to Trina, Justin said, "I honestly don't care how I looked or what they may say. I'm just glad you're here and hope you're enjoying yourself."

Trina gasped before saying, "Are you kidding? I couldn't be happier right now; no one's ever done anything like this for me."

"And the night's still young," Trina heard Allen call out from up ahead. She saw the rest of the All-Stars waiting up ahead for the two. Looking to Justin, Trina was the one to ask, "Shall we?"

"Lead on," he replied before they headed off to see the film.

_(The Vega Residence; 11:00 PM)_

"Full House," Jade said, showing everyone her cards.

The rest of the members at the table groaned. Despite each of them winning a few hands, Jade had won the majority of their games since they started playing hours ago. They'd taken a short break for pizza and a movie, but quickly got back to poker.

"Okay, I think I've had enough losing for one night," Andre said.

"Ditto," Beck said.

"Same here," Cat added.

Tori sighed, "Well will you guys at least help me put the stuff away this time instead of leaving me like you all did Monday night?"

"Sure Tori; we'll help you out," Andre answered. With that and a slight groan from Jade, they all pitched in to start putting the table up.

They worked in silence for a minute before Robbie spoke up, "Is it me, or did something seem off about tonight's games?"

"You mean besides none of us having a chance against Jade?" Tori asked.

They all exchanged looks before Beck answered, "He's right. It was way too quiet the whole time."

"Yeah, and the games seemed to take forever," Jade chimed in.

After a few more minutes of thinking, Cat squealed. "Oh, I think I know; Trina's not here."

They all were surprised at Cat's idea, but they slowly began to consider the notion.

"Oh come on!" Jade said interrupted their thinking. "Are you all honestly thinking that you would've wanted Trina to be here? She'd have forced herself in our game and then talked our ears off about how great she is."

"Well, at least someone talking would've possibly inspired the rest of us to," Robbie said back.

"Yeah," Andre jumped in. "And even though Trina wins a lot, I don't remember her ever raising the stakes to me and Robbie hammer dance at her beck and call."

"One time," Jade replied throwing her arms in the air. "We made that bet one time."

Even though Tori was listening to the conversation, she was deep in her own train of thought. _'Was Cat right about it being that different without Trina,'_ she asked herself. Tori couldn't deny that Trina had been acting differently at home and school the entire week and it did make things seem off.

As she continued thinking to herself, her parents, Holly and David came in from the garage after working out for so long. "You all are still here?" David asked. "Kinda late don't you think?"

"It's Friday Dad," Tori answered. "No school tomorrow."

"True," her dad said shrugging his shoulders before getting a bottled water out of the fridge.

Tori's mom was carefully examining the group for a moment before she asked, "Tori, where's your sister?"

"She's still out Mom," Tori said. "She said she was going to a movie and a party afterward, but she never said when she'd be back."

"I know, but that was hours ago. Has anyone talked to her since," her mother asked again.

"Well no, but I'm sure she's-" Tori started but before she could finish she heard the front door open behind her. When they all turned to face the door they saw Trina stepping in.

No one said anything at first. They all just watched Trina walk through the door before she looked up and noticed everyone staring at her. She looked confused at why they were all looking at her so she simply said, "Hello," waving her hand to snap everyone out of their confusion.

"Trina, where've you been?" her mother asked. "It's 11:00 and you've been gone for hours."

"I told you all: I was going to see a movie and then a party afterwards," Trina explained.

"That still doesn't explain why you're home so late," her mother replied back.

"Sorry Mom," Trina said. "I guess I just-."

"You can probably hold me accountable for that," a voice said from the doorway.

Everyone turned to see Justin standing behind Trina. Holly and David were puzzled at seeing him, but Tori and the others were just plain shocked.

"I didn't think the party would last as long as it did and I didn't know Trina had a curfew. Sorry about getting her home late," Justin said, trying to sound reassuring.

"Oh…it's okay," Holly stammered. "I just didn't know where she was."

"Well like she said, we caught a movie and then a party that was afterward," Justin explained. "And you have my word that we didn't drink or do anything illegal."

The room went silent for a minute before David said to Justin, "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you something."

"Go ahead," he answered.

"I'm sorry, it's just," David started, "you look just like that Justin Cisco guy who got to appear on 'Seattle Shore.'

Justin and Trina looked at each other before laughing slightly.

"I'm sorry," David said looking away, "I've embarrassed you."

"No, no, it's okay," Justin replied, "I get that all the time actually. I hate to have to rush out, but I have a few other people I have to drop off. So," he said turning to Trina, "I will see you later and I hope you enjoyed tonight."

"I had a wonderful time," Trina replied, smiling.

Stepping back outside, Justin returned her smile before saying, "I'm glad."

As Trina watched the door close behind him, she heard her father say, "I swear he looked just like that guy."

"That _was_ Justin Cisco Dad," Tori said.

Trina grinned seeing the surprise on both her parents' faces.

"How exactly do you know him Trina?" her dad asked.

Trina shrugged her shoulders. "We're in the same grade and we have three of the same classes, Dad."

"Oh…okay," David replied before he and Holly made their way to their room.

"Well, good night," Trina told everyone still present.

"So…what movie did you see Trina?" she heard her sister ask.

Trina turned around to face the group. "Oh, we went to see The Hunger Games. It was great."

Tori frowned at the answer. "I thought _we _were gonna go see that Trina," she said.

Trina gave Tori a confused look. "You said you wanted to make sure that all your friends could come see before we picked a day to see it Tori," Trina said.

"When did I-," Tori started before she remembered. She told that to Trina a few weeks ago. Even though they both loved The Hunger Games book, Tori wasn't sure she wanted to spend the entire time being alone with Trina in the theater. That's why she wanted to try and get all her friends to come along. "Oh, yeah. I did say that."

Trina gave her sister a confused look for a little bit longer before she said, "Well I'm gonna go ahead and go to bed. Night all." Trina turned back to the steps and made her way up.

"Tori, I don't remember us discussing when to go see The Hunger Games," Beck stated once Trina left.

"We haven't Beck," Tori said with a sigh. "Once I got an official list of the showings I was going to ask you all if you wanted to come to so I wouldn't have to be alone with Trina."

"Wow Vega," Jade said. "Lying to your sister; that's certainly not nice."

"Shut up Jade," Tori told the Goth.

"Why do you seem so upset about it anyway?" Jade asked. "Now you can go see it whenever you want without worrying about Trina being around."

"I know but," Tori started, "I never thought Trina would just go and see it without me."

Seeing the distress on his friend's face, Andre went over to Tori and brought her to the couch. "Hey don't worry about it Tori," he said. "We'll all go and see it tomorrow. That way we won't have to put up with the crowds that Trina had to put up with. Sound good?"

Tori still felt some uncertainty, but she nodded her head at her friend's effort at comforting her.

"Good," Jade said. "Now let's watch T.V. E! News might be covering the Premiere and we can see who all went.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement; so they all settled on the couch and Robbie grabbed the remote, flipping through channels before they got to their destination.

They listened to Ryan Seacrest talk about the usual celebrity gossip before discussing what Tori and her friends wanted to hear.

"As predicted there was a huge turnout today at the premiere of Gary Ross' new film 'The Hunger Games.' From Brangelina to the Harry Potter gang, several familiar faces came out to experience Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson's performance, but here's one thing that caught this anchor's attention. Young up-and-coming actor Justin Cisco, known for several cameo appearances, was spotted at the premiere, not only with his usual posse of aspiring stars, but accompanied by this stunning, unknown female.

"That's Trina!," Cat called out, seeing the face on the screen as if the others didn't recognize her.

After fixing their eyes to the T.V. screen where they saw the older Vega sister, the group turned to face Tori who couldn't think of a word to say.

**Well there's the next chapter. Again I'm sorry for the length, but like I've said before, I don't like to break stuff into separate chapters if I can fit it into one. Plus I didn't want to lose the idea while I had it. I know that the idea of Trina going to a movie premiere is probably too fanciful, but as I said at the beginning, most other characters have had similar experiences so I thought I'd give it a shot. I know how long The Hunger Games has been out and that its release wasn't the same as when Driving Tori Crazy premiered, but I was thinking about how to write this story before the movie came out and including Driving Tori Crazy in this chapter seemed like a good idea.**

**I hope that I didn't make Trina seem too harsh in this story. Also, I know that I've made Tori a bit OOC, but one of my focuses is for Trina to not depend on Tori and the gang for approval and for them to experience what it might be like without Trina around. As always please read and review. If you want to me to describe the idea I have for the play that I've discussed in previous chapters please include that in your review. **

**Thank you and have a pleasant tomorrow.**


	9. Another Way to Spend a Saturday

**Hello people who read non-canon fiction, I'm back. I apologize for my recent absence. I finally got done with finals and even though I confess I'd like to have done better, I'm ready to enjoy my summer and continue my story with fewer interruptions. I'm going to do my best to ensure at least one update per week, probably two on occasion.**

**Thanks to everyone who took the time to review; I'm glad you liked the inclusion of Driving Tori Crazy in the previous chapter. If you like I have an idea to include a little of How Trina Got In in the chapter after this one so if you want that include it in a review please (if you want Trina to be present for part of the conversation, include that in your review). Honestly I wasn't too thrilled with that episode. I thought it was meant to give Trina some character development, but despite having some funny parts, it was just another thing to support everyone's beliefs that she's talentless (frankly I don't trust Sikowitz's opinion since he was hallucinating). Either way here's another chapter. Hope it's not too bad; was kind of a difficult write.**

**DISCLAIMER:**** I do not own Victorious**

'**Seeing a movie the first night it's out, always fun. Seeing a movie at its Hollywood Premiere…nothing compares. Mood = Ecstatic.' **That was what Trina Vega's status on TheSlap had been for nearly 12 hours.

As the teenage girl was driving the next morning, she couldn't help but recall the previous night's events. When Trina had walked out of her house and seen the limo waiting, she thought it couldn't get any better. But of course, after being taken to Hollywood and seeing the movie with Justin and the others, she definitely knew better now. The movie had been spectacular, even better than Trina had originally thought; there were a few variations from the book, but that was common with every film that was adapted from literature. The after party had been just as unbelievable.

At first Trina felt overwhelmed when she saw how many of her favorite celebrities were present. When she was walking in, she was trying to think of the right thing to say; as much as she wanted to rush up to each and every one of them, she knew that would just result in her being thrown out. Sensing her hesitation, she felt Justin give her hand a reassuring squeeze, before whispered to her, "Do you wanna meet anybody here?"

"Yeah," she whispered back, "I just hope I don't do anything to embarrass any of us." She turned to face the group. They all gave her reassuring looks.

"Listen, don't worry about that," Kathleen told her. "Yes, almost everyone here is a celebrity, but they're people too. Just stay calm and be yourself." The others nodded at her suggestion. Despite still feeling slightly cautions, Trina felt calmer with Kathleen's advice. After she'd taken a deep breath, Trina looked straight ahead before saying, "All right. Let's go."

For the rest of the night, Trina had gone around and socialized with several of the people present. She didn't get very long conversations with all of them, but she still got to talk with each celebrity she met for a few minutes. Several of the one's she got to talk to were some of her favorite stars: Emma Watson and the other stars from Harry Potter, Charlize Theron, Cote de Pablo, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (her celebrity crush when she was younger)…the list went on.

During their conversation, each of them asked about what was going on at Hollywood Arts. They all seemed to know that Justin and the others were students there, but they seemed curious about other events going on. Trina was a bit self-conscious when they were discussing plays. When she was asked about some of her performances she tried to keep it simple, but couldn't help but mention how she was trying to re-evaluate her acting style. To her surprise, several of the celebrities appeared to understand her dilemma and even reassured her that it wasn't an unusual move in the acting field.

Even though Trina felt slightly embarrassed asking, she couldn't resist asking some of them for an autograph. Of course she didn't have random slips of paper for them to sign, but she did have her datebook which many of them obliged in signing. Her favorite was no doubt when she got Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson's. After she spent a few minutes talking with the two about how much she loved their performances in the film they had just seen and discussing her aspirations for the future, Jennifer had included in her signature, '_Here's hoping to me seeing you on the screen.'_

On the ride back home, Trina couldn't help but talk about how much she had loved the whole night and how she couldn't believe she met so many of her favorite celebrities. When she walked into her house she didn't feel like bragging about going to the premiere to her family and her sister's friends. She did, however, get to savor the moment when they all were shocked when Justin walked in and confirmed their activities for the night. It was even more hilarious when her parents recognized Justin from his T.V. appearances.

After he left, Trina headed to her room to turn in for the night. Despite the excitement she still felt, she was really tired and wanted to be well rested for the present day. She did, however, make sure to update her status on TheSlap before going to bed. When Trina checked it the next morning when she woke up, she had dozens of comments. She was confused why so many people would have commented, but when she saw a link attached to one comment that led to a recap of E! News last night, she understood why.

For right now, Trina hadn't responded to any of the comments. Honestly she didn't really plan to; she knew no matter what she said people would spread some type of rumor about how she got there, but it didn't matter to her. She'd had one of the greatest nights of her life, and nothing anyone said could taint her memories of it.

Trina just continued the rest of her morning as she had originally planned. She'd grabbed a quick shower and breakfast before catching a ride from her dad to go get her car, carefully avoiding her sister the entire time. It wasn't that Trina didn't want to see Tori; she just thought that by now her sister knew she'd been at The Hunger Games Premier and would want details.

By the time Trina had picked up and paid for her car, it was roughly 10:30 AM. '_Plenty of time,'_ she thought. She was currently headed to Hollywood Arts' Fitness Center. It was a gym that was technically part of her school, but also allowed open membership, had a varied, up-to-date supply of equipment, and was open on weekends to anyone that wanted to come in.

Trina had lost count of how much time she had spent there. Even though she attended a dojo where she learned martial arts and committed some time to practicing at home, she spent more time training here. It allowed her time to collect and gather her thoughts, practice her patterns and sparring techniques, and carefully watch herself to make and corrections that could help her advance.

Pulling into the parking lot, she noticed there were a few cars here. It was no surprise though; some fitness classes were only offered on Saturday, plus most students could only attend on Saturday given their class and extracurricular schedule. After she checked out a locker, she changed into her typical workout attire: a black Nike training tank top and sweats. To make sure that her hair didn't get in the way, she tied it in a simple ponytail. Once she was ready, she grabbed her gym bag and headed off to one the studio room where she normally worked out.

Unfortunately, when she got there, it looked like the room was already occupied. There was nothing against it of course; as long as they weren't reserved the studio rooms were open to anyone. So, with the other studios occupied with fitness classes, Trina just went over to the mats near the cardio machines to do some basic stretches.

Trina spent the next half hour stretching out her legs, back, and arms before doing some time on the treadmill. As much as she hated having to take time and energy away from her practice, she had to admit it was probably better that she had taken some time to get her heart rate up. _'Whoever was in the studio room has to be done by now,'_ she thought.

When she got there, however, the door was still closed and she could still hear some rock music playing. Sighing, Trina decided that she didn't care if other people were present. The studio was big enough for a class so there was no reason she couldn't share it with whoever was in there. So she opened the door and walked in.

When she first walked in she noticed that the divider was pulled out; it effectively split the room in half. Well, she might not be able to see who else was in here, but that meant that they couldn't see her either. But as she made her way in, she thought she heard something thumping back and forth for a minute before she heard a familiar voice.

"Okay, now that you've pummeled it into next year I think you can take a break," the voice said.

"Oh come on Allen. I didn't hit it that hard," someone responded.

"Even so we've been at it for a bit. Aren't you the least bit tired?" a third voice asked.

Trina gasped when she realized who it was: Justin, Allen, and Sean. They were all here.

"All right fellas, let's take a short break," Justin said.

Trina wasn't sure what exactly they were doing. Judging by what she'd heard they were hitting one of the punching bags in the studio…basically what she'd been intending to do.

She wasn't sure why, but Trina didn't want to interrupt them. Granted she recalled what had happened the last time she'd secretly listened to a conversation, but couldn't resist this chance.

"I don't see why you guys are so tired," Justin said, "We've only been here like an hour and I'm pretty sure you had enough time to sleep since I dropped you all off last night.

"Yeah, well I guess I was still psyched from the night," Allen replied.

"Same here," Sean added, "although it took me a while to get to sleep since Kathy kept texting me asking me what I thought about the movie. Guess it serves me right for not finishing the book before last night."

"Well then I guess everyone had a good night then," Justin answered.

Trina heard some low murmurs of agreement which made her smile. She was sure that the other girls had enjoyed themselves, but the guys had seemed a bit more composed throughout the whole thing. Of course, Trina had just attributed it to the fact that it was possibly a common event for all of them.

"Looked like you also had fun last night Mr. Cisco," Allen said, snapping Trina back to their conversation.

"I did have fun Mr. Dorsett. Is that so strange?" Justin responded to his friend's comment.

"When you consider how those events typically go for YOU, yes it is," Sean told him. Now Trina was confused. She had figured that Justin and the other All-Stars had been to movie premiers before; the statements she was hearing now were proof of it, but did they mean that Justin didn't enjoy going to them?

Trina heard Justin sigh loudly before he stated, "All right gentlemen I'll bite. What are you getting at?"

"You may have enjoyed the movies we've seen, but you can't deny that you've always felt that you were attending them just to try and establish your presence and that you've had to bring a date just to meet everyone's expectations or to assist your folks," Sean started.

"Or because you all thought I needed to have one so I wouldn't feel lonely," Justin countered.

There was an awkward moment of silence that Trina thought had signaled the end of the conversation, but Allen jumped in with, "I think the reason Justin was finally able to enjoy himself was because Miss Vega was his date." Trina's jaw dropped at the idea.

"Okay careful where you go with this notion Allen," Justin said. "Say anything you like about me, but I'm not going to let you say anything negative about Trina." As soon as he finished his words, Trina felt her heart lift.

"Well first of all I wasn't going to and second you just proved my point: You're protective of her," Allen said.

"Yeah; I'm that way with all my close friends. What are you trying to say?" Justin asked.

"You like her don't you?" Trina heard Sean ask plain and simple.

Now it seemed as though time had stopped. Even though Trina had asked herself the same question two days earlier, now she was getting to hear the truth from Justin himself. She shouldn't be listening; she had to leave; she had to…

"Am I that obvious?" Justin said.

Trina suddenly felt her heart stop. '_He likes me; as in, he like likes me?' _she thought. As the thought echoed in her head, the conversation between the three guys continued.

"She is beautiful man," Sean said.

"It's not just that, guys," Justin started. "It's a lot of things. She's smart, funny, strong, determined, and talented." The words caused Trina to blush. No matter how many times she recalled it, her talk with Justin at the start of the week made her heart soar. It was the first time in forever someone was willing to listen to her without judging her. But now that she was hearing Justin describe her to his closest friends and also that he had a crush on her, she was almost at the point of tears.

"Well then good for both of you," Allen stated. "She seems great, the girls like her, and we're all happy. Plus you've been single for too long and you and Trina look cute together." Trina heard a slight laugh from the three; she couldn't suppress her own smile at the comment.

Even though she felt she could just listen forever, Trina decided she'd stood around long enough. So she quietly made her way back to the door and knocked to alert them to her presence before she slightly opened the door to make sure they though she was just coming in. "Hello," she called out to alert them to her presence.

As Trina made her way around the room divider she saw the three male All-Stars looking her way. They were all dressed in workout clothes like her, except each also had a pair of weight lifters gloves. She was confused at first, but when she saw the punching dummy next to them and the fact that the three guys were sweating confirmed her earlier assumption.

"Well, look who's here," Sean called out.

Trina grinned at his comment. "Look who's already here," she said back. They all matched her grin now.

After a moment of silence, Justin asked, "Didn't know you came and worked out here."

"Yeah," Trina responded quickly, "Obviously I don't have the equipment this place has at home and I don't have much space to practice either."

"Practice?" Allen queried.

"Yeah, I take martial arts. The dojo's usually kinda crowded during my training sessions so I just learn the new techniques there and then try to master them here," Trina explained.

She smirked when she saw the three actors' eyes widen at her statement.

"She sings, she dances, she acts, and she fights," Justin said. "This woman is definitely skilled."

"Let's see a demonstration," Sean said. With that, he walked over to the punching dummy and braced himself behind it. "Why don't you try taking a couple shots at this while I hold it," he stated.

At first Trina was unsure what to think at his proposition. Was he being insulting? She didn't think so, but she couldn't shake the thought from her mind. Glancing at Justin, she saw him give her a wave of approval. She simply shrugged, dropped her gym bag, and pulled out her sparring gloves before stepping in front of Sean.

As she got into a ready stance, Sean looked at her before saying, "Don't worry about hurting me; just give it your best shot."

Okay, he may not be insulting her skills, but he was definitely underestimating them. _'He want my best shot…I'll give it to him,'_ Trina thought. She took a deep breath before she threw her first punch. After the first she threw a combination of hooks, crosses, and uppercuts before she threw a roundhouse kick at the dummy. With each hit, it looked Sean had the wind knocked out of him.

Once she finished and stepped away, she struggled to suppress her laughter. Even though she didn't want to hurt Sean, she did want to prove her point…which she did. The teenage boy stepped away from the punching dummy looking completely out of breath. Hearing a laugh behind her, Trina turned to see Allen doubled over laughing and Justin grinning while shaking his head.

"Okay it's official: she's deadly," Sean stated catching his breath.

"She certainly is," Justin said walking over to Trina before patting her on the back.

"I bet she could beat you Justin?" Sean added.

Surprised, Trina looked up at Justin who was also looking at her before he turned to Sean to say, "I bet she could."

"You take martial arts?" Trina asked him.

"I've taken a few classes in the past; certainly not enough to prove I'm very good at it," Justin started. "I've just practiced some of the techniques I learned in those classes and supplemented them with some boxing moves that I learned."

"So, you box?" Trina asked further.

"Not professionally," Justin assured her. "One of the athletes my dad worked with taught me a few moves while he was here."

"Oh come on man, tell her the truth," Allen called out coming over to the pair. "This guy learned boxing from Artur Vitaly."

"The Russian Heavyweight boxer?" Trina asked surprised.

"Yes," Justin said, slightly embarrassed. "He's great at boxing, but he wasn't good at promoting himself; so that's where dad came in. He had Artur over at the house to learn about raising support for his fight campaigns, he met me there, and as another way of payment to my dad, he taught me how to box."

"That sounds awesome," Trina replied. "I'd like to those moves some time."

Justin simply shrugged at her statement. "Maybe you will."

All four students stood in silence for a while before Sean interrupted with, "Well as fun as this has been, I'm very tired and need to get cleaned up before I pick up Kathleen later today."

"Yeah, I've got to meet up with Nora after a bit to work on one of our assignments," Allen added while getting his stuff together. Once he and Sean had all their stuff packed they turned to face Trina and Justin before asking, "How 'bout you Justin? You done for the day?"

Justin took a moment to look back from Trina to his two friends before stating, "You guys go on. I'm a little curious to see some of Miss Vega's techniques."

Curious, Trina raised one of her eyebrows at the statement. "You wanna fight?" she asked smirking.

"No, not a fight," Justin reassured her, while returning her smirk. "Just a simple, friendly sparring session between friends to test each other's skills."

Even though Trina laughed at Justin's wordplay, she could tell he was serious. She never sparred except at the dojo; whenever she was here at the gym she was just forced to practice her kicks and punches and watch herself in the mirror while trying to correct for error.

After she considered the opportunity for a minute or two, she answered, "All right; you're on. Just don't expect me to go easy on you," she told Justin.

"I'd be disappointed if you did," he told her before he slipped away for a moment.

As she saw Justin going through his gym bag, Sean and Allen walked over to Trina.

"Give him a few good hits for us," Sean asked her, causing Trina to laugh.

"Just try to lay off hitting him in the face," Allen added. "It's kinda something we all need to survive in our chosen career field."

"I'll do my best," Trina assured the pair before they left the studio.

When she looked back, Justin was standing there with a pair of sparring gloves and helmet on, holding one out to her as well. Taking it, Trina stepped back before putting the helmet on and getting back into her fight stance.

"Rules?" Trina asked.

"No hitting below the belt, illegal kicks, and try to avoid direct contact to the face," Justin suggested before getting into a stance of his own.

"Deal," Trina said.

And with that, the sparring began.

**Well there's the next chapter. I apologize for the lateness and lameness of this chapter. Like I said, I've had to take care of finals. Also, I don't like this chapter too much. I know it's too unrealistic and some of the celebrities' responses to Trina are unlikely, but hey, this is fiction. This chapter is kind of just meant to be a filler because I wanted the content of earlier chapters to span roughly a week before I decided to skip giving details about certain days in the story.**

**I admit I'm having some trouble generating ideas for some of the story. There are some later chapters that I've had on my mind since I started this and I'm really anxious to write and get your opinions on those. However, I want to make sure I've written a sufficient amount of material before I release those. Either way, it's looking like it will be 2-3 more chapters before I get to those which I guess could also be described as angst.**

**Oh well, please review after you've read the chapter and again I apologize for the delay in releasing, poor grammar, and pitiful content.**


	10. Warm Ups, Recollections, and Practices

**First of all, my apologies for posting this so much later than I originally intended. My computer's been having some issues and wouldn't let me post a new chapter or send out emails for some reason. Plus I'm in a summer class right now and the only assignments are weekly papers, so I've had to commit time to that.**

**Secondly, thank you to everyone for continuing to read and review my story. I have mixed feelings about this chapter. It's obviously more realistic than my previous two, but I struggled a lot. I have to admit that the beginning and middle are somewhat modeled after some of my earlier chapters. I included some of the material from How Trina Got In in this chapter, although I'm thinking that I probably didn't give you what you wanted or expected and again I apologize. **

**I do, however, have ideas about how to include Tori Goes Platinum in my story; the idea is introduced in this chapter and will be part of the story in the next two chapters. First though, I need to retract a comment I made earlier about Beck and Jade being back together; obviously they need to be separated to include that episode so just remember that. Luckily I don't think that really changes my story any. **

**Overall, I think that episode was pretty good with Tori and Jade finally becoming friends, but I'm not sure what Dan Schneider has planned for Trina anymore. I'm guessing he's making it appear that she realizes she's not as beautiful as she thinks she his, but the condiment thing in that episode was just…I don't know. Also, there's a description of the play that I've mentioned in previous chapters: tell me what you think. Anyway, read, review, and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Victorious, the Niki Watkins' songs, or Battlestar Galactica.**

Another Monday morning rolled around at Hollywood Arts High School. The sunshine had produced a pleasant, but not overwhelmingly warm outside today. As was typical for the first school day of the week, the students filed in, groaning slightly over the loss of their short-lived freedom from the weekend. What wasn't typical was how they all stopped and watched as Trina Vega made her way to her locker.

Even though she knew they were only doing so because they had either seen or heard about her going to the Hunger Games Premiere, Trina was smiling on the inside at the other students' reactions. Based on the diva routine she had kept up at school until last week, she knew that none of them would ever expect to see here at such a high class event, let alone be on a date with Justin Cisco at the same time.

Trina wasn't surprised when some of the people she passed in the parking lot tried to ask her questions about the event. As a response, she simply shrugged and answered, "Oh yeah; it was a lot of fun." It was the same response she gave her family throughout the weekend. When she got home from working out Saturday, Tori and her parents asked question after question about everything that had happened the previous night. Trina kept her answers short and simple; she didn't go into detail about how amazing she had felt being with Justin and his friends.

She wasn't trying to come across as selfish or conceited; she didn't want to be stereotyped as that person anymore. She just remembered that even though Justin and the others were clearly excited to be there, they took it in their stride…obviously a result of going to other premieres. Plus, Trina was sure that if she did give a full report of the night, she would be more likely to start bragging.

As Trina was at her locker, she heard the sound of heels clicking against the floor. The sound was getting louder so she knew that whoever wore them was coming towards her. Taking a moment to look, Trina saw that it was Lindsay and the two girls from last week. _'Well what ever could they want?'_ Trina asked herself, as if she didn't already know.

"Hey Trina," Lindsay said somewhat shyly. Trina thought it strange at first, but then she recalled the girls mocking laughter from the previous week at the thought of Trina auditioning for the next play. Apparently, now that Trina had been seen with the All-Stars, Lindsay considered her worth talking to. "Hey Lindsay," Trina responded.

After an awkward moment of silence, Lindsay finally spoke up, "Soooo, I saw you on E! News at the Hunger Games Premiere.

Trina grinned at the other girl's remark. "Yeah, I was there," she simply responded.

The trio of girls standing in front of her almost gasped at her answer. Lindsay composed herself before asking, "What was it like," trying to suppress her curiosity.

As much as Trina wanted to gloat to the girl who had snubbed her in the past, she kept herself under control. She did, however, give a little more detail for this particular answer. "It was good; hanging out with friends, seeing a great movie, and meeting a few celebrities…All in all, I had a fun night.

Now Lindsay and her friends were clearly surprised. Trina couldn't blame them; for anyone to say a Hollywood Premiere was just a 'fun night' was shocking. But again, Trina didn't want feel any real need to describe the night to people who were just surprised that she was actually there.

Turning back to her locker, Trina finished getting her books for her first classes before she heard familiar voices from her right. Turning, she saw Kathleen and Nora walking down the hall. As if they could feel her eyes on them, the two female All-Stars looked up. Recognizing Trina, they both smiled and waved. Trina returned the gestures before closing her locker and giving a simple "Gotta go" to Lindsay and her two friends before heading off.

Trina felt her excitement build as she made her way to Nora and Kathleen. Even though she still barely knew the two, Trina felt she had a real connection to them after their shopping experience the previous week. "Hey girls," once she got to them.

"How's it going this morning," Nora asked.

"Pretty good," Trina answered, "Just wish the weekend could've lasted a bit longer."

Nora grinned at the comment. "Same here, but we've got to start school sometime if we ever intend to finish it."

Now Trina was the one grinning. "Can't argue with that logic," she said. She turned to Kathleen who despite wearing a smirk on her face, had folded her arms across her chest and was possibly trying to be serious.

"So what's this I hear about you hitting my boyfriend?" Kathleen asked while raising her eyebrows.

Even though she didn't think Kathleen was mad, Trina knew she had to answer with some caution. "I didn't hit him _directly_," Trina said trying to find the right words, "he just agreed to hold the punching dummy while I took a few shots."

After they gave each other a look, Kathleen and Nora started laughing at Trina's answer. "I'm not mad," Kathleen told Trina when she saw that she was confused. "I was just surprised when he told me."

Trina gave a slight laugh herself. "I'm guessing he was pretty surprised himself?" she asked. Kathleen nodded in response.

"Believe me, none of the guys are sexist or think less of women," Nora chimed in. Kathy gave her a sarcastic look for a second. "Okay," Nora admitted, "Allen has made a crack or two on occasion, but he's never been serious. It's just the two of us have stuck to Yoga and Aerobics instead of joining in their workouts so I guess they never expected a woman to be there. But now they know for a fact that there's a girl who could kick their butts if she wanted."

As awkward as the compliment might have sounded, Trina blushed at it. "Thanks," she said, "Let me know if you ever need help keeping them in line."

"We'll do that," Kathleen answered. The three girls laughed for a moment before the five-minute bell rang.

"Well I guess we better get to class. See you at lunch," Nora called out as she took off to her first class.

"Later," Kathleen told Trina before she headed off to her own class.

Trina smiled seeing her two friends leave. As she started walking to Film and American Society, she wondered what they would think about the conversation she'd overhead.

_(Break to the Asphalt Café)_

Trina couldn't help but feel stupid as she made her way through the tables at lunch, wailing as she went. She could tell that everyone around her wanted her to shut her mouth, but she couldn't stop, at least until she sat down or her Rock & Pop Vocals instructor disappeared.

Despite the relative ease of Miss Notwick's class, the teacher still found a way to complicate matters. The class was basically just attendance and then for tests, the students had to have individual meetings with the teacher to show that they had incorporated some of the techniques they were learning into their singing. There were no such meetings during today's class, but the teacher announced that despite the fact that all her students had A's, she didn't think that any of them had incorporated the vocal warm up that she taught them at the beginning of the year. All the students remembered about the exercise, was that it sounded like a lot of moaning or crying.

When no one admitted to using the warm up, the teacher told her that for she would be monitoring the students for the rest of the week and that if she didn't hear them practicing outside of class, they would lose points on their next test. So when Trina spotted Notwick observing her from beside the Grub Truck, she had no choice but to start her teacher's crazy vocal technique by moaning out loud and driving other students away from her. Even though he would hear some of it when she got to the table, Trina thanked God that Justin wouldn't have to hear all of it.

When she had finally gotten to their table, Trina could see the confused looks on her friends' faces. Clearly embarrassed, she mouthed 'Sorry' to them before she looked back for Notwick. Her teacher had pulled out a clipboard and was jotting down notes. She turned back to face Trina and gave an approving nod before walking off.

Sighing in relief, Trina sat down, and crossed her arms before placing her forehead on them. After a few moments, she heard Sean ask, "Based on your current state, I'm guessing you didn't want to do that."

Trina gave another sigh, this time out of exasperation, before she lifted her head up. Searching her mind for responses, she was about to start before Nora held up her hand to stop her. "You don't need to explain. I recognize that sound: Notwick's warm-up exercise?" Nora asked.

Trina smirked hearing that someone had figured it out. "I'm guessing you've taken the class?" Trina asked.

"Yep," Nora answered. "I haven't had a single teacher aside from her who had something like that. The worst part was when she put on a concert last semester and we had to start with that in front of everyone who came."

Trina shrugged, "Well, I guess one lunch period hearing me isn't that bad."

The group laughed at her comment statement.

After a few moments of eating passed, Sean broke the silence. "By the way Justin, since I didn't get to see it, how was your sparring session with Trina Saturday?

Justin and Trina exchanged smiles before Justin answered, "Well Sean, first of all I'd say for you to be glad that you had the dummy to take some of the force away from the hits she threw at you. Second, I'd say she won and I'm glad I can move my shoulder without too much pain.

Trina gasped in mock surprise. "Oh like you took it easy on me. I thought I sprained my arm when you blocked that left cross."

When the pair looked back at their friends they saw they were all laughing at their argument. Justin simply shook his head before saying, "Truce?"

"Truce," Trina responded.

After another minute or two, Kathleen said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Today's the day they're starting signups and giving out scripts for that play Sikowitz is helping with and auditions are this Thursday."

"So they expect people to be ready to audition for this play in three days?" Allen commented.

"Yeah, that's realistic," Nora added.

"Well at least there's a three week period to practice before the play finally goes on," Justin stated.

Everyone at the table murmured their agreement.

Even though she had agreed with Justin to audition for a part, Trina was curious about what she would be getting into first. "Do you have any idea about what the play is about?" she asked.

"I heard some of the teachers describing it," Nora started, "Apparently it's a drama of some sort."

"Sounds interesting," Trina admitted. Even though she wished she knew a little bit more, it sounded a like this play would be more serious than some of the recent plays that had been put on at Hollywood Arts.

"Are you thinking about auditioning?" Kathleen asked, snapping Trina out of her thoughts.

"Oh, um," Trina stuttered, "I guess I could try, but I don't know how I'd do compared to the others trying out." Try as she might, Trina couldn't shake the self-doubt. She knew that even if none of the Hollywood Arts teachers had the final say in casting, there was a chance they would share her past record with whoever did. Plus, Trina was almost certain that Tori would be trying out and her sister had won every party she attempted since she started at HA whether it was a musical or not.

"Well if I heard right, competition may be slimmer than you think," Nora said. When everyone's eyes were on her, Nora continued. "Apparently some people have been questioning how effective Hollywood Arts is at training students for future careers in music and theater. So to show how talent gets developed over the years, Helen decided that each year will get a play to perform and the seniors get this one."

"Really," Trina said. That meant she wouldn't have to compete against Tori, Jade, or Cat. It wasn't that Trina wanted to prove that she was superior to her sister or her friends. She just really wanted a chance to show everyone at school that she did have talent and going against any of them would have cost her the opportunity.

"Well I guess we know someone who's signing up," Allen said.

When Trina looked around the table, everyone was looking at her hopefully. With a short laugh and shake of her head, Trina gave in, "All right. I'll audition."

Despite the looks they got from the other tables, the All-Stars gave the young actress a short applause.

"Now I only wonder what guys will be auditioning," Kathleen asked.

The second she finished, five of the people at the table exchanged looks before they all turned to the sixth as he set his coffee down.

"Well I know that I don't need to ask what those looks mean," Justin said.

"Come on Justin, audition," Kathleen urged. While Justin took a moment to consider it, Kathleen elbowed her boyfriend in the arm to get him to say something.

"It has been a while since you were in a play here man," Sean admitted.

"I was the lead in Walowitz's rock opera last semester," Justin stated.

"Exactly; that was like four and a half months ago. That's an eternity in high school theater time," Kathleen added.

His friend's comment did cause Justin to grin, but everyone could still he was weighing the options.

"Hey! Trina's agreed to try out," Nora reminded him. "If not for one last chance to show your acting skills before we graduate, do it for a chance to act alongside your friend. And if you don't get it, at least you have a copy of the script to help her practice."

Now that statement, Trina could see, did have a convincing effect on Justin. Before he could respond though, Allen whispered something to him.

When he pulled away from his friend, Justin took a second to look at Trina. She knew Justin would help her practice no matter what, but she couldn't help but feel thrilled at the opportunity of them acting in a play together. "For me," she said to him.

Sighing, Justin simply shrugged before saying, "Let's go get our scripts."

_(Break to Sikowitz's class)_

"So you just left Robbie at Nozu's," Cat asked Tori.

"It's not like he's in any danger there being by himself," Tori reminded the redhead, "He's not the one Mrs. Lee's hates for leaving daughter hanging around from the rafters after promising her a part in a play in exchange for a $1000."

"Great Gandhi, I've just been inspired," Sikowitz exclaimed. "Drive-by acting exercise! You're all Chinese people, GO!"

At their teacher's signal, the class erupted in hysterics as they acted his instructions.

"Why you use soy sauce to clean my dishes!" Andre cried out.

"You didn't chop up tree limbs tiny enough for me to make chop sticks," Jade exclaimed.

"You, you…," Cat stuttered, "You leave my daughter hanging around and take my money," she said as she turned around, pointing at whoever was behind her. What she didn't expect was for two seniors to walk into the classroom as she turned and for her to be pointing at a confused Justin Cisco.

Once everyone else in the class became aware that they had two guests, they all stopped and just stared at Justin and Trina for a second. When the seniors were aware that they were now the center of everyone's attention, they exchanged looks before Justin held his arms up innocently. "I swear I've never seen this girl's daughter or taken money from her," he said, earning a laugh from Trina.

"Class please be seated; apparently two of my former students have needs that need to be met," Sikowitz called out. As the current class returned to their seats, Justin and Trina walked up to the front. "So, tell Sikowitz what you need and he will use all his coconut given powers to try and make it come true," their former teacher asked.

"We both need a script for that play you're helping with," Trina asked.

"Ah yes, that play," the teacher said as he rubbed his hands together menacingly before going to his bag to get the scripts. "It is a little bit more serious for my taste, but I daresay it will be fantastic given the right actors. Here we go," he finished as he pulled out two copies of the scripts for the seniors.

"Well if we get parts in the play we'll try to do it justice," Justin reassured his former mentor. Trina nodded in agreement while flipping through her copy of the script.

"It's slightly ironic you stopped by today, Trina," Sikowitz started, "I just finished recapping your audition to the class."

"Really," Trina asked.

"Yes; your interesting take on Niki Watkins' 'The Joke Is On You,'" Sikowitz responded. The teacher's comment earned a few smirks and quiet laughs from his class. However, all it earned from his two former students were looks of confusion.

Noticing the two senior's expressions, Sikowitz asked, "What? Is someone behind me? Is my coconut safe?" before looking over his shoulders in panic.

After exchanging a look of confusion with Trina, Justin said, "As much as I hate to question a teacher, that's not the song I recall her doing for her audition."

"That's because it's not," Trina answered.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Sikowitz said, "But that's what I remember hearing."

"It's what was in the story I heard," Beck called out.

"Same here," Jade replied.

There were a few murmurs of agreement from the class. Trina was shocked; she'd heard some of the rumors about how she'd gotten into Hollywood Arts, some extremely hurtful ones: her parents bribed the school, she stalked the teachers until they let her in, and some far worse. But she never thought the rumors would spread so wide.

"Well, if that's true," Justin said, interrupting her train of thought, "then I'm curious how much she made selling the song because Trina auditioned roughly four years ago and Niki Watkins released that song two years ago."

The room went silent at Justin's remark. Apparently no one had an answer for his comment, mainly because it was the truth. Niki Watkins only album had been released in 2010, and even then it wasn't until later that year that the songs 'The Joke Is On You' and 'You Haven't Seen the Best of Me' were on the Billboard's Top 100.

"I did sing and dance for my audition," Trina said, breaking the silence, "but is was to Rihanna's 'Don't Stop the Music.'"

"And…?" Cat asked.

"And Sikowitz was my only judge and he gave the word to admit me, the end," Trina finished.

"Are you sure; I was absolutely certain my version was right?" Sikowitz asked, puzzled.

"Not to make any accusations sir, but you were acting a bit awkward that day," Justin stated.

"Oh really," Sikowitz challenged, "and what evidence do you have to support those accusations, Mr. Cisco?"

"You were saying all kinds of weird things when she was auditioning, you stumbled out of the theater, called me Sam Witwer, and asked when I would be back on Battlestar Galactica," Justin answered.

Sikowitz took a moment to think back to the event before smiling. "I did love that show."

"So there's nothing more to it than that," Cat asked.

"What more do you want there to be?" Trina asked shrugging, "I auditioned and got in."

"You did pretty good as I recall," Justin answered, making Trina blush. "Well, these flashbacks have been fun, but I'm pretty sure we need to get back to class."

"Then let's go," Trina said. And with that, they both walked off the stage and exited out the classroom.

The whole classroom was left in confusion; even though their opinions of Trina not having talent had been confirmed by Sikowitz, his mental state at the time, as well as the assurances of a professional like Justin, proved them wrong.

"So Trina really was talented back then?" Cat asked.

No one answered for a while; that is until Sikowitz commented, "Good Gandhi I wish my cousin had sent me a whole crate of those coconuts."

_(Afterschool that day)_

They were in the Blackbox Theater practicing, Trina and Justin. They'd looked over the script and decided to meet afterschool to practice.

The basic premise was that the two main characters, an attorney and a school teacher, had randomly met at a doctor's office. After that, they dated for a few years, falling in love in the process. However, the attorney, Brian, found out he'd inherited kidney disease from his father and when he found out that he only had so much time left, he ended the relationship in the worst way that he could so that teacher, Jackie, could quickly get over him and find someone to make her happy. In the end, while Brian was waiting to die in the hospital, Jackie found out that she was a match and donated a kidney to save him. Once Brian figures that out, he visits Jackie to see if he can win her back. Initially, she turns him down, but her sister Jennifer reminds that she'd only have made such a sacrifice for a true love. In the end, Jackie manages to catch him before he leaves and they confess their love for each other.

Now Trina was only concerned if she could play the part right. A woman trying to convince a man how in love she was with him was one role she was sure she had down after years of rejection. Now, however, she was trying to portray a woman that was trying to resist affections from a man, all the while trying to fight her own attractions to Justin. In the end, Justin told her to try and take some memories of rejection and use that in her play. _'The best way I've found is to get into character, is to use real-life experiences. You've already felt the emotions; use the memory of them to your advantage,' _Justin explained to her. And that was what she'd been working on for the past two hours.

"How exactly _did_ you think this was gonna go?" Trina asked, sounding mocking as she thought her character would sound. "You show up here, try to explain why you broke my heart without telling me, and then just expect me to forgive you and run into your arms."

"I didn't have any expectations when I decided to come here," Justin replied with the next line. Further getting into his role, he dropped to his knees and threw his arms out to the side. "I know I hurt you and I don't expect you to forgive me when I can't even forgive myself. I just had to see you and find out how you're doing."

"Right," Trina answered. "You wanted to see that I was miserable without you."

"To see that you were okay!" Justin's character answered. "I knew if I told you the truth you'd stick by me till the end and even if you mourned me for a short time, one day you'd find a way to move on. But I never wanted you to feel that at all. I thought it'd be easier if you hated me so you could move on to someone else," Justin took a moment to stare directly into Trina's eyes for the appropriate affect, "someone who would give you everything you deserved and would be with you forever."

Trina was taken aback by the drama of Justin's acting. _'He definitely takes his acting seriously,_' she thought. After a few moments of silence, Justin got up off the floor. "I think that's enough for today's practice," he suggested.

Trina nodded in agreement. During their last few scenes she really felt that they truly were their respective characters. In addition to her attraction to Justin, she recalled how she felt when Beck and the others revealed that they had been playing a joke on her; they never were attracted to her. She'd used both in trying to capture her character's persona.

"I gotta say, you really nailed the emotions needed for these last few scenes," Justin complemented her.

"Thanks," she responded, "but I still have lots of work to do. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of competition Thursday."

"Well then, I promise you we'll meet as often as you like to work on our lines, and make sure we both get parts in this," Justin assured her.

Trina smiled at him. She knew he was serious. As much as she wanted the role of Jackie, she knew there was always the chance that she wouldn't get the role even if she only had to compete against other seniors. That was okay. At this point, she was just determined to improve her skills and get a chance to show it to the school.

"Just review the lines more tonight, and you'll be even more prepared," Justin said.

"Sure," Trina said halfheartedly. As much as she wanted a role in the upcoming play, she had other plans for the next few hours. In her last class of the day, one student turned on the T.V. and showed an announcement from Mason Thorne Smith. For the rest of the day and tomorrow, his committee would be accepting videos of people to audition to perform at the Platinum Music Awards.

She thought about asking Justin to help her with the role, but she thought it might be better if she could try it without him. Instead, she bribed two students from the Tech Theater class to meet her at her house later that day and help her with production. Trina reasoned that if she could finish her video and turn it in before the day was over with, she'd have a better shot at winning.

She felt kinda bad about not asking Justin for help, but she thought that if she did get it, it would be a way to surprise him and show that his support and confidence in her had certainly helped.

'_And if I win, we can all go to the Platinum Awards together,' _she kept reassuring herself.

"Well, ready to head out?" Justin asked, brining Trina back to reality.

"Oh, right," she answered, "Let's hurry. Lot of work to finish before the days up."


	11. Moving On to New Parts

**As always, hello fiction readers. Here is the next chapter. I apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience and reviews. I'm sorry my last two chapters haven't been the best. I hope this one makes up for it. I think it's a bit more eventful and emotional so you might like it. Like I said before, it takes place during the course of Tori Goes Platinum so you may recognize a few things. However, I didn't include the condiment thing Trina did in the episode because I think Dan Schneider just put that in to keep making Trina seem awkward.**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Victorious; only the OC characters I have created for my story.**

Thursday morning arrived, the day of the auditions for the big senior play. However, that wasn't what the main subject of the gossiping at Hollywood Arts. The Platinum Music Awards were this Saturday and all the students were rushing to try and get tickets to the event. Not only to see which of their favorite artists could possibly win, but also to see the winner of Mason Thornesmith's contest. No matter how disappointed some of the students were, they were able to get excited to see one of their own open at the Platinum Music Awards; another chance to see Tori Vega shine like they all wanted to.

Trina Vega, however, wasn't feeling the same hype that everyone else was. Despite the indifference she had shown since Mason Thornesmith showed up yesterday and announced Tori the winner, Trina had felt overcome by waves of emotion since. The first, of course, was a mix of jealousy and hurt. Once again her little sister beat all competition and was getting what she wanted.

'_Stupid, stupid, stupid,'_ she told herself over and over whenever she thought of her audition tape. For her performance she tried an ocean theme with her dressed like a mermaid while singing. It was a childish idea now that she thought of it. Not only that, she'd ignored all advice she had received from Justin. She went back to her diva attitude and tried acting more snobbish instead of just trying to be herself. Regardless of the lack of feedback on her performance, Trina had a feeling that was another factor in her losing.

So, despite Trina finishing on the day the contest was announced and the relative simplicity of her sister's audition, Tori won.

After the initial wave of losing the contest passed, Trina decided to try and get over it as best she could. Once school ended, she met with Justin again to practice their parts. Trina gave her best efforts then, and Justin could tell she really was striving to prove herself. She didn't mention her attempt to win the contest; she wasn't sure how he'd take it. After they finished, Trina headed off to her karate dojo. She didn't have a class that night; she just really wanted to try and blow off some steam and she figured it would help improve her marital arts technique some. In the end, both activities made it easier to get over losing the chance to sing at the Awards. She realized that at least with this attempt at acting there was no one directly insulting her for her efforts. Plus, the lack of surprise at Tori winning also helped Trina move on.

Unfortunately, the rest of the night quickly changed that. Even though Trina got home at almost 7:00, there was still no one at the Vega residence. She found a note from her parents; they were out with friends and would be back late. _'Typical,'_ she thought, '_Another night Mom and Dad are out while Tori and I fend for ourselves.'_ She then thought what she could fix for Tori and herself and figured she should probably text her sister to see where she was. No matter how Trina felt about losing to Tori once again, she still felt she should at least try showing some happiness for her sister. She soon regretted thinking such thoughts.

Nearly five minutes after Trina sent Tori the text to find out when she'd be home, Tori walked in. What was strange was that she wasn't wearing the clothes she had on at school today. Her pink jacket was replaced with an all-black leather one, she had black leggings and a weird green skirt instead of jeans, and her hair was all frizzed instead of it having its natural curl. Plus, Tori looked really stressed when she walked in.

Confused, Trina asked her sister what was wrong and why she was dressed so weird. Instead of getting a response, Tori started walking towards the stairs. "Tori, did you hear me," Trina asked. "I'm not in the mood to talk," was all she got back. Trina tried asking again. "Just leave it alone," Tori responded. Now Trina was getting frustrated, "Tori, talk to me. What's…" was all she got before Tori turned around. "BACK OFF TRINA!" Tori yelled before storming up the rest of the steps.

Trina stood there in shock for a second. At first, she couldn't believe her sister would act that way towards someone just for showing concern. Then of course Trina remembered the insults she overheard from the previous week. Tori wouldn't act that way towards others…just Trina. The realization instantly turned Trina's concern to anger. _'I try showing concern for her and she just snaps at me for asking!'_

The memory from the week before and Tori's recent comment just cemented the conclusion Trina had made last week: she was done with trying to fit in with others just to be insulted. Even though she had been avoiding Tori, her friends, and her parents since last Monday while trying to improve her talents, she had felt some guilt over it. Now however, she realized there was no reason for her to feel guilty. Tori, her parents, and Tori's friends would never feel any regret for what they said to her. Trina was fine with that. Right there, she decided she couldn't care less about what any of them thought or did.

So the next day, Trina simply got ready earlier than everyone else as she had been lately. Once Tori was ready, wearing yet another crazy outfit, Trina drove them to school. Along the way, Tori had practice the song she was supposed to sing at the Awards on Saturday. Trina, on the other hand, had remained silent the entire morning.

When they got to school Trina went straight to her locker. She was able to avoid all the people who swarmed over to her sister asking about Thornesmith and getting ready for the ceremony. Despite the attention her sister was getting, Trina was somewhat glad that no one was bugging her about being at the premiere anymore. _'At least there's one positive for me in all this,'_ she thought.

As Trina gathered her books for her first few classes, Trina sighed before taking a quick look around the hallway. She smiled when found the one student who she was sure would brighten her day. Justin was walking towards her; he was looking down at first, but she realized he was texting someone. Once he was finished, he looked up to meet Trina's gaze and returned her smile before walking over to her.

"Well good morning to you," he said with some enthusiasm.

"Morning," Trina replied.

"So, ready for auditions today?" Justin asked her.

"I guess; no more putting it off," Trina said. She noticed as she finished, Justin had a puzzled look on his face. She hoped she hadn't come off as insulting. It wasn't just her sister's attitude the previous night that was throwing her off. She couldn't help but feel as though she'd betrayed Justin by not asking for his help with her audition tape.

"Are you doing alright?" Justin asked. "You've seemed kinda distracted the past two days."

Realizing that he had noticed, Trina decided to confess. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I've just been kinda mad at myself. I sent in a tape to try and win that performance spot at the Platinum Music Awards Saturday. I don't know what they thought of my attempt, but I realize that instead of using all the advice you've given me about just being myself I went back to the stuck up diva, and that's not who I want to be. I just want a chance to prove that I have talent," she told Justin.

As she explained the reasons behind her actions, Trina noted the changes in Justin's expression. He showed concern when she first started, then he was nodding while wearing a look of understanding as she explained what was causing her distress, and now that she was finished, he was looking…slightly amused.

Now Trina was the one confused. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing; it's just I'm surprised you didn't ask me to help you," Justin answered.

Trina felt her heart slightly sink. _'Did I offend him by not asking?'_ she asked herself. While she was having her internal dialogue, Justin interrupted her. "I'm not made if that's what you're thinking."

"Then why are you surprised?" Trina asked.

"Well, even though I'm sure you're probably sick of me asking you questions, I have one for you: If I were as close to everyone else here as I am to you, how many of them do you think would be calling be asking for advice on what to do and tips for improvement while they were filming?" Justin asked Trina.

Trina took a moment to think before she stopped herself: Everyone would be asking him for help. There was no denying that everyone knew Justin had acted professionally and worked with several serious directors. Plus she knew he'd probably picked up some lessons from his parent's advice to their clients. _'They are the best managers for talent and athletics in the area,'_ she reminded herself. She couldn't help but suppress a smirk when she figured out the answer and turning her focus back to Justin.

Seeing her facial response, Justin knew she'd figured it out. He gently put his hands on her shoulders before saying, "Look, I agreed to help you practice and improve your skills, but I'd gladly do more. If you asked me for help on that audition tape you made I'd give it to you, but you didn't. Instead of exploiting our relationship to get advice from me, you tried working on it by yourself. That shows you've gained confidence since we officially met last week," Justin told her. "I know you're disappointed, but still, I've seen you practicing for the play auditions that are today. You've not let the Platinum Music Awards get in the way. Instead, you've moved on and put forth your effort towards the next opportunity," he assured her.

In that moment, all of Trina's depression about not getting picked vanished; her heart swilled with gratitude at Justin's comforting words. He was right; even before she heard the results of Thronesmith's contest, she went right back to preparing for her auditions today. She'd promised Justin she would give her best at them as well as promising herself she wouldn't just slack in her preparations.

Overcome with gratitude for his words, Trina quickly threw her arms around Justin and hugged him as much as she could. _'This is a true friend,'_ she told herself as she felt his arms encircle her as well. She also had a quick flash to one part of his statement: _our relationship_. Trina was sure that she and Justin were getting closer, but what exactly did he mean by including that?

When they finally let go of each other, they both gave each other a quick smile before Trina said, "Thank you so much for that."

"No problem at all," Justin assured her. "Now as far as the rest of the day goes, I say we just go about our classes as we normally would, take about an hour after school ends to go over our lines one more time, give our all at auditions this afternoon, and go from there."

"Sounds good," Trina replied. And with that, they walked off to their first class.

_(That Afternoon: 4:20)_

"I don't know if I'm ready," Trina said as she paced back and forth outside the Blackbox Theater while Justin watched.

After their morning conversation, the pair had gone through the rest of their day as they normally would. It actually helped remind Trina of her progress through the years; even though people had considered her a bad actress in the past, she still had maintained A's and B's in all her classes. Then when she got to lunch, she was reminded of the friends she did have: the All-Stars. They had only officially known her for a week, but they were all nice to her. Unlike Tori and the others, Justin and his friends accepted her and made her want to be better.

The only real distraction that had occurred that day was Tori's attitude. Trina heard rumors from other students that her sister had been acting out all day and they all thought it was because of her singing this Saturday. Not that it really bothered Trina; she'd already gotten a dose of Tori's behavior before and after she was picked for the big performance. _'Let her act however she wants,'_ Trina told herself, _'I'm not gonna let it get to me anymore.'_

Once their last class was over, Trina rushed to meet up with Justin. The Blackbox was closed until auditions started at 4:30, so they'd been forced to practice in a classroom. After all their work, they both knew their lines and Trina was sure that she had the right emotions to show down. However, with only 10 minutes till her performance truly counted, she couldn't hide her anxiety.

"You'll do fine," Justin reassured her.

"I just don't know," Trina said back. It wasn't just her past attempts that were plaguing her mind, but also the competition. Several senior girls had signed up to audition. At first Trina wasn't sure why, but she quickly figured it out: Justin.

Because of commitments he had to working outside of the school, Justin didn't try-out for many plays or musicals at Hollywood Arts in his senior year. Now, however, the word had leaked out around the school that he was auditioning and it was likely that everyone, except for Trina, saw this as their chance to skyrocket their career by acting alongside a recognized, rising celebrity. Trina was disgusted by the idea, but, in the end, there was nothing that she could do.

"Why are you so nervous?" Justin asked, pulling Trina down beside him.

Sighing, Trina put her head on his shoulder. "It's just…It's been so long since I've gotten any big or serious roles in plays. I know I've got down my lines pat, but I still just can't help but think it won't do any good in the end," she said.

Justin put his arm around Trina, holding her close to him. She felt safe and secure and would honestly be content to just remain like this forever.

"I never told you how I felt when I first got accepted into Hollywood Arts did I? Justin asked her.

Trina looked up at him before shaking her head.

Justin slightly sighed before saying, "I'm not gonna lie; I was thrilled that I finally got to be here and that I'd have the chance to work on my skills and prove to myself that I could be an actor, singer, or whatever. Unfortunately, getting accepted a year behind everyone in my current year and age wasn't without its drawbacks.

Justin turned to look at Trina. "I found myself having to take classes with complete strangers that were a year behind me, I was taking some classes where I didn't know what they were talking about because since I started as a sophomore I missed some classes only for freshman, and my friends, it seemed, had moved onto others. Not to mention that there were several stories about how I got accepted floating around: parents bribed the school, I threatened another person who got in to give me their spot, or someone dropped out last minute. For a while there, I thought that I should just go back to Sherwood and see what happened from there."

Even though he hid his true emotions well, Trina couldn't help but feel her heart bleed for the pain Justin felt. True she'd felt rejection plenty of times, but at least whoever she lost it to somewhat wanted the part. She could only imagine what Justin had felt back then; no matter the success he had gained since, she knew he'd always have the memory of losing a spot that he'd rightfully earned to someone who didn't even want it.

"But then I remembered one thing: this is a high school and I was 15. Regardless of what anyone here says or a few mess ups I make, I still have a lifetime to prove I can be an actor or singer," Justin continued. "If I just gave up at that point, then I'd never make it anywhere."

"And you've made it all the way here," Trina finished for him.

"Right," Justin answered back. "No matter how successful any of us are, there's going to eventually be times where we don't get the roles we want or we get bad reviews from some critics. That comes with the job," he said, earning a slight smirk from Trina, "In the end, what matters is if we let it get to us and how we go from there. You've already proved that you're committed to acting and you're determined to make it Trina; now that you've honed your skills more, you ready to show everyone in there. After everything else you've put up with, this audition should be nothing."

Right there, all the doubts Trina felt were washed away and she felt confidence fill her up.

The two exchanged smiles before they noticed the door to the Blackbox opened up and they heard someone say, "Anyone here for auditions please make your way inside."

Trina and Justin both stood up; as others made their way to the entrance, Justin fixed Trina with a look that could be read as _'Ready?'_ "Let's do this," Trina said. And with that, they both headed to the theater.

After the first few auditions for the role of Jackie (the lead female role), it was Trina's turn. Not surprisingly, there was more competition for this role than any other. As she took the stage, Trina felt some discomfort at first, but she quickly gave her head a shake to remember what Justin had told her earlier. _'Stay focused and confident,'_ she told herself.

To further show that she was the most prepared for the role, Trina didn't keep a script with her as she went through her lines. After all her practices with Justin and studying at home Trina had the lines memorized and was sure she could get down the related emotions. She noticed some impressed looks in the crowd as she went through the scenes that the casting director picked for the auditions. Hopefully, it would be enough.

"I'm sorry if it seems like I've led you on for so long, but I just think that it's time we end this before it gets too serious and one of us ends up getting hurt even more," the director read.

"You think what we have hasn't been serious; that it didn't mean much?" Trina followed with from the script. "This has meant everything to me. I've sacrificed so much to try and be with you, but it's still not been enough has it. You think I'm not good enough for you? Just because I've not been as successful or rich that somehow I'm less of a person?"

"It's not that," the director continued, "If you'll just let me explain…"

"You've said enough," Trina replied, "Get out. Whatever it is you've been looking for is clearly not me. So just leave and don't ever bother me again!"

The room went silent as Trina finished her lines. She tried to read the looks the casting director and his team were giving her once she finished. They all looked stunned. Trina hoped that she hadn't come across as too emotional in her audition. She was just doing her best to try and get into character that's all.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, she saw the director starting a slow clap that was soon joined by the other members in the audience. _'They're applauding me,'_ Trina though, _Did they like it then?'_

"An excellent audition," the director exclaimed as he stood up.

Trina felt her heart swell. "Really?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he answered. "You have the lines down pat and you play the character with the exact amount of passion needed."

Trina was overcome with joy at his words. For the first time in forever, someone was actually complimenting her performance. They weren't calling her talentless, begging her to stop, or suggesting she try some completely different career. They had enjoyed her attempt.

"So what happens now?" Trina asked.

"As much as I'd like to give you the role right now, I need to see everyone's audition before any final decisions can be made," the director replied.

"Oh," Trina said back. While she was hoping to get the role right off the back, Trina knew it wouldn't be fair to others. As much as she wished for the chance to get back on stage, she knew what it was like to not be given a chance at an audition. "Okay then," she said as she made her way off stage.

"I have to ask you one thing though," the director caught her before she could get away.

"What's that?" Trina asked.

The director let out a sigh before he answered. "As you can probably tell, we have several people who are auditioning for the lead roles and hardly anyone trying out for some of the lesser parts. If for some reason, we can't give you the lead, would you be willing to take another role?"

Trina hesitated at first. After having to be the nameless sick little girl in _Steamboat Suzy_, she really didn't want to have to be in someone's shadow. However, she also realized that if she just turned down a chance to be in a professional Hollywood director's play, she'd likely be losing some chances at future roles.

Armed with this revelation, Trina answered, "Sure; just let me know."

"Fantastic," the director replied, "We'll be having second auditions tomorrow after school. We'll call you later if you qualify."

"Great," Trina answered before taking a seat in the audience to watch the rest of her competition.

_(The Next Day)_

Once the auditions ended on Thursday, the director called out the names of everyone who he wanted to come back Friday. As she'd hoped, Trina made the list and so had Justin. There were some others who had been called back for the same role as Trina (she groaned when she heard Lindsay was trying out as well); this alerted Trina to the fact that she had to be on the top of her game. To do so, she and Justin practiced more after the auditions ended and she reviewed her lines over and over by herself at home. She did her best to ignore everything else that was going on.

It certainly wasn't an easy task. Tori was still acting rebellious and rude to everyone around her. She'd even been invited to a fancy restaurant and in an apparent act of rage, dumped ravioli down a former astronaut's pants. When she got home later that night she was quiet and just avoided others. Since that was exactly Trina's intentions towards her sister right now, it didn't really bother her at all. _'She wants to act this way…fine,'_ Trina told herself.

The next morning Trina drove them both to school in silence. She heard the rumors about her sister's actions from the previous night, but Trina remained focused on her audition later that day, rehearsing her lines in her mind over and over again.

When lunch came she was glad to be able to sit with Justin and her new friends. They helped reduce some of the anxiety she was feeling.

"So how did the auditions go yesterday," Kathleen asked her.

"They went pretty good," Trina answered, "Me and Justin both have a second round of auditions today."

"That's great," Sean said. Everyone else present nodded in agreement and Trina was thankful that she had their support.

"Your acting obviously impressed them," Nora told Trina.

"Yeah," Trina said back, "Now if only my singing were better."

The other seniors exchanged looks for a moment before Justin said, "I think I might have a way to help with that."

"What's that?" Trina asked. Justin had offered her some tips on how to improve her singing: relax, don't follow any crazy warm-ups from teachers, sing the words in your normal voice tone, etc. She felt they were great tips, but Trina still felt she had a ways to go.

"What if I offered to set you up an appointment with one of the best talent managers in the area," Justin told her. His offer sparked a gasp from everyone present.

Trina herself was surprised, mostly because she had never really met a talent manager who had been willing to listen to her. "You don't think I'll be wasting her time do you?"

Before Justin could answer her, Kathleen answered for him. "Oh trust us, Julie's the best. She's the nicest manager you'll meet and she's willing to work as long as you are."

"Not to be negative Kathy," Justin told his friend, "but I don't recall my mother every allowing you to call her by her first name."

Trina was really confused. "Wait a second…you'd be willing to set up an appointment with your mom for me?" she asked.

Justin laughed at her question. "Well she's always scouting Hollywood Arts for any potential clients, and I'm sure she'd be glad to meet you."

Trina was both confused and overwhelmed at the offer. It wasn't just because it was Justin's mother they were talking about, but it was also her reputation. She'd worked with Ginger Fox, Melinda Murray, and had even collaborated with Sophia Michelle on some productions. Would someone with those kinds of clients consider Trina worthy?

After having a serious internal debate, Trina realized that while she knew her vocal abilities were slightly lacking, this was the best chance she would have of improving them. "Name the time and place," Trina said.

Justin grinned at her. "Let's go ahead and say Saturday night," he suggested.

"That works," Trina said as the lunch bell rang.

While they all got up from their table to head to class, Justin walked beside Trina. "So I was wondering: what are you doing after auditions tonight?" he asked her.

"I don't really have anything planned," Trina answered, "Why do you ask?"

"Well I was thinking, that instead of us practicing we go out and celebrate all the hard work you've put in for the past week," Justin asked.

Trina looked at Justin with a puzzled look on her face. "You mean all six of us?" she asked.

"I was hoping it'd just be you and me actually," Justin replied.

Trina was barely able to hide her surprise. _'He's officially asking me out for a date with just the two of us,'_ she thought. Even though Trina remembered hearing that Justin liked her last Saturday, she thought it was strange that he was slow in making any move towards showing it.

"I'd love to," she answered.

"Great," Justin answered as he and Trina headed off.

_(Later, after the auditions)_

After the auditions, Trina rode with Justin off to wherever they were going to celebrate for the night. The auditions had gone fairly well in Trina's opinion. She and Justin took a few minutes to go over their parts before they started, but not as thorough as they had previously. They both realized that if they didn't know the best way to get into their respective characters by now then it was unlikely that any extra practice would help. Plus, the more time they spent would possibly only result in greater anxiety.

At the end of her audition, Trina got a similar response to what she had gotten yesterday. Another thing that made it familiar was that the director asked her the same question again: 'Would Trina be willing to accept a different role if she didn't get the lead?' She still answered yes. While it did make her think that she didn't get the part she auditioned for, she had a feeling that she would still get something in the play.

As Justin's car came to a stop, he and Trina got out of the car. When she saw where they were, Trina had to admit she was impressed.

"Thaison's?" she asked Justin who gave a look that clearly said, _'Is this okay?'_ Of course it was okay; it was great actually.

Thaison's was another oriental restaurant in Los Angeles, but it was a bit classier than the others. Whereas Wok Star and Nozu were primarily designed with several photos of celebrities or had an atmosphere to attract teenagers, Thaison's had a heavier emphasis on oriental themes. The restaurant also wasn't just limited to one cuisine. In fact, the menu had sections for their offers: Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean, etc. Trina had been a few times with her family, but she had never been there with friends or by herself; the prices were pretty steep. Then again few people argued with the superb food and peaceful atmosphere.

"This is great," Trina said, "I love this place."

"I'm glad," Justin told her. "Sorry if you were expecting Nozu. That place has good sushi, but that Mrs. Lee kinda creeps me out."

Trina laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. This place isn't too expensive though is it?" she asked.

Justin smiled at her. "Relax, it's no problem. I know the owner and we have an arrangement. He gives me a discount, and my dad gives him a discount on Yankee tickets," he said earning another laugh from Trina.

When they got inside and made it to the hostess, Justin stepped up and said, "I have a reservation: two under the name Cisco."

The hostess checked her books and once she found the name she grabbed two menus and said, "Right this way."

Trina was shocked that Justin had made a reservation in advance. "Did you know that I would say yes to this?" she asked.

Justin simply shrugged. "Honestly I wasn't sure, but I hoped you would."

When they got to their table Trina crossed her arms before asking, "What would you have done if I said no?"

Again, Justin just shrugged. "Well…I owe Alan $40 for paying to fill my car up last week and this is one of his favorite places. So either that or I would have had to cancel."

They both laughed for a minute over that. Their waitress came and took their drink orders before disappearing. They both sat in silence for a bit before Trina said, "So how do you think you did at your audition today?"

"Okay I guess," Justin replied. "I just hope if I get a part it's because of my skills and not my reputation."

"What do you mean?" Trina asked.

Justin gave a slight sigh before giving Trina a serious look. "The main reason I don't audition much at Hollywood Arts is because I usually get the top role even when I just try and be like an extra. While I'd like to think it's because I'm that good at acting or singing, I can't help but ask how often I get those just because I've become somewhat famous outside of school."

Trina was slightly confused at first, but then the truth began to emerge. Because of her recent realization about her overcompensation in her efforts, she knew why she didn't get many parts in school plays. She thought that someone who got the lead in all of them would be thrilled at such. Hearing Justin's statement she started thinking that it wasn't true. She realized that he thought he was only valuable to the school because of his status in the celebrity world and not because of his actual abilities.

"Like I said last week, you're great at your performances," Trina reasoned. "You give everything in whatever you do, you've stayed modest about your success, and you're clearly willing to help others who need it," she explained, including the last to show how far she had come because of his encouragement.

Justin smiled at her words. "You'd be surprised how little I hear that, but thank you. And you did great these past two days too. I hope you get the part," he said.

After the waitress brought their drinks and took their order they talked for a bit longer: about school, past performances, future hopes random things.

A few minutes after their food arrived, Justin's phone rang. He quickly answered it. Trina noticed that while he was talking to whoever was on the other line, he kept his answers short and gave a few nods while listening. Once the call was over and Justin put his phone away, he looked up at Trina before saying, "I got the part."

"And I'm sure it's because you rightfully earned it," Trina replied. Only a few seconds after she answered Justin, Trina's phone went off as well. She didn't recognize the number, but she decided to answer it anyway. "Hello," she answered.

"Is this Trina Vega?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Yes, it is." Trina replied, still slightly confused about how the person knew her name.

"Trina, hello. Jerry Hallman, the director from today," the voice said which resulted in Trina holding her breath.

"Oh yes, I remember," Trina said, trying to stay calm. Justin could tell who was on the phone by her expression. He leaned forward in anticipation to hear the news.

"I'm calling to discuss your audition with you," Jerry explained.

"All right," she said waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Before I go any further, I just want you to know that you gave a superb audition today, and I wish I could give you the lead role," Jerry told her. At first Trina felt overcome with joy at his compliment, but then the last part hit her: 'he wished he could give her the lead.'

"Unfortunately, we've had to give the role to someone else: Lindsay Kerlez," Jerry said.

Trina's heart dropped when she heard the name; _'Lindsay got the role,'_ she thought. She hadn't even originally wanted to try out. She just wanted to be seen with Justin, and now she got the part that Trina had worked so hard for. Justin looked concerned when he saw the distress on Trina's face.

"Oh…well that's all right," Trina said, trying to remain calm, "Whatever you think is best."

"I'm so sorry. It's just, the two of you were the best at auditions and we wanted to make sure that the two main female characters had the best actresses portraying them. Unfortunately, Lindsay said she would drop out if she didn't get the role so we were forced to give it to her."

"I see," Trina said. The words cheered her up some. She hadn't lost the role because she wasn't good; she didn't get it simply because Lindsay was stubborn and refused to accept anything less than the lead.

"So we've been wondering if you would take the role of Jennifer and be willing to be Lindsay's understudy for now," Jerry asked.

Trina blinked in surprise before taking a moment to consider. It was true that the character of Jennifer, the lead female character's sister, didn't have as many lines, but she was in several scenes and had a fair amount of dialogue when compared to the rest of the characters besides the two leads.

What was it she told herself yesterday: _'How many more chances am I gonna get in school like this?'_

"I'd love to," Trina told Jerry confidently.

"Terrific!" Trina heard him exclaim. "Practices will be every day at 4:00 and should last about two hours."

"I'll be there," she assured him before they both hung up.

She turned to look back at Justin. She smirked when she saw the look on his face; it was a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

"I didn't get the lead…Lindsay did," she told him.

"Oh no," Justin said shaking his head. Trina laughed at his reaction, clearly showing that he disliked Lindsay as much as she did.

"So I get to be Jennifer instead of Jackie," Trina told Justin.

Justin gave a slight sigh before looking back at Trina and asking, "Do you want me to request a different role for me?"

"WHAT!" Trina asked in surprise, earning a few looks from others around them. Despite her remark, Justin remained calm. Recomposing herself, Trina asked, "Why would you do that?"

"I wanted to star beside you, not some superficial poser like Lindsay," Justin told her.

Trina felt comforted by his support and appreciated that he was so loyal to her. However, she knew she couldn't let him pass this up."

"Hey, it's fine," she assured him. "You worked hard for this part and you should take it. So what if I didn't get the lead? I set out to prove to everyone that I had talent and could get a part and I did."

Justin smiled at her positivism. "You certainly did," he said.

"Thanks," Trina said, "Now let's just enjoy the rest of the night."

"Fine by me," Justin said back, "Acting auditions yesterday and today, celebrating tonight, and singing tomorrow."

"Right," Trina said. She'd almost forgotten that Justin had offered to let Trina meet his mother so she could help her with her singing. She was still a little concerned about what a professional talent manager would think of her, but quickly pushed such thoughts away. For now, she was content as could be.

**Well there it is. Like I said at the beginning, I hope you like it. I'm sorry if I made Tori seem too harsh, but remember she was told to act that way in the episode. Please review; you have no idea how much it helps. **

**I intend to have the next chapter up by Monday or Tuesday. I'm going to go ahead and let you know that it won't be as long as this chapter because it's only going to cover the day of the Platinum Music Awards on the show.**

**P.S. I need some suggestions for later chapters. I need ideas for two songs, ones that have not been in the show. One I need to be something that a guy would sing to a girl and the other needs to be something that two girls could sing (like I said, nothing from the show so Take A Hint and Make It Shine are out). You'll see the importance in later chapters. **

**Thank you and please review.**


	12. Meet the Cisco's

**Thanks for all the reviews lately. I'm glad to see some people are still reading. I know that this chapter is about a day or two earlier than I said at the start of my last chapter, but I decided to try and finish it between last night and today. I know I said it would probably be short, but as you've probably figured out, that's not my style of writing.**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Victorious or anything other celebrities, songs, movies, etc. mentioned in this.**

'_Will this outfit be sufficient for tonight?' _Trina Vega asked herself as she looked at herself in the mirror. She'd asked Kathleen and Nora several times about what she should wear to her meeting tonight; they just told her to dress like she would for school. So for tonight's purposes, she was wearing a simple floral blouse, jeans, and since it a cool night, her red jacket. Justin and the others had assured her there was nothing to worry about, but Trina was still nervous.

Even though she had been in front of several directors, producers, teachers, and others to try and advance her career, she felt extremely vulnerable about tonight. After all, she was meeting one of the most established and successful talent managers in Hollywood…and the fact that it was the mother of a guy Trina liked (and was secretly liked back by) only added to that.

After she got the call about the part she had been given in the play, Trina and Justin stayed at the restaurant for about another hour, mostly because they kept asking each other questions about each other. Trina realized that despite getting closer over the last two weeks, she knew relatively nothing personal about Justin.

So they exchanged some personal information: favorite book, T.V. show, movie, music group, celebrity crushes, embarrassing stories, etc. Now she that knew Justin's favorite show was a tie between NCIS and Fresh Prince, Fight Club was his favorite book and movie, he had several favorite bands (he mentioned the song she'd overheard him singing was recorded by a band called Soundgarden which was in his top five favorites), he'd had a crush on Angie Harmon after seeing her in Law & Order when he was 8, and when his family was at dinner one time, he'd tripped and fallen into a waiter who accidentally dumped a plate of fried rice over Alyssa Vaughn. After she had a short laugh about Justin's information, Trina felt comfortable in telling him about herself as well; she even included when she got in the fight with Perez Hilton on the plane ride back to L.A.

Before they left, Trina had to ask if Justin thought it was right to introduce her to his mother in an effort to help improve her singing. Justin said it was fine and that he knew his mom would be glad to help her. He did, however, ask if Trina could send him a copy of the audition tape she'd sent in for the Platinum Music Awards. He reasoned that his mother preferred to have witnessed her clients performing before she helped them so she could she what exactly she'd be working with. Even though Trina was hesitant, Justin promised her that he wouldn't watch the recording. So eventually she agreed to email it to him.

The rest of the night had been uneventful, at least in Trina's opinion. When she got home she noticed that several of Tori's friends' cars were parked in their driveway. Trina wasn't surprised at first, but when she walked in, she noticed that Andre, Beck, and Robbie were all crowded around a very distraught Tori. Trina thought about helping, but none of them seemed to notice her when she walked in so she just went upstairs to her room. She checked The Slap to look for an explanation for the situation. From what she found, Tori didn't like some of the circumstances of her deal with Mason Thornesmith and when he found out he fired Tori from singing the next day. Seeing Jade in the crowd and remembering her audition, he offered her the chance, and she accepted right away.

Trina shook her head in disgust. Even if she wasn't getting involved in Tori's life anymore Trina still thought it was a horrible thing to happen. She reconsidered going and helping out, but she knew it wasn't necessary. With three of her closest friends around, Tori didn't need her sister's help…just like she didn't need her help with anything. Like when she found out her two crushes, Ryder and Steven, were dirtbags, figuring out an idea for the Parade Parade float, or getting ready for her driver's test afterschool. Trina noticed that Beck had posted on The Slap that he let Tori borrow his car so she could retake her driver's test. Tori had passed, but it didn't have cheering up effect that her friends hoped it would have.

After spending some more time on The Slap and sending her audition to Justin, Trina eventually fell asleep. She woke up early the next morning for no particular reason. After she'd had a light breakfast, she got a text from Nora inviting her to the gym. Trina had no real plans for the day so she met up with Nora and Kathleen at 12:00 for an aerobics class. It had been a really good workout; they had some private girl time that they couldn't share when the guys were around and Trina met a few other nice people at the class. At the end, though, Trina asked the girls about what to expect when meeting Justin's mom. Since Mrs. Cisco had represented all of Justin's friends, Trina figured that they would have some good advice. The two just grinned and gave the same advice: Don't be nervous, be yourself, and be willing to work hard.

Now as Trina grabbed her purse and keys, she decided she'd just be prepared for whatever happened. Satisfied with her appearance she made her way to her car, got in, and drove towards Justin's house. After getting home late from the Premiere last week, Trina considered leaving a note, but there seemed to be no point. Her house was currently empty. Her parents had gone out with friends as they usually did on Saturday nights and Tori was with her friends at the Platinum Music Awards. Even though Trina was sure Tori was still sad about not singing anymore, it would be crazy for her to miss since she still had admission.

That was another good thing about meeting Justin's mother tonight: Trina didn't have a ticket to the ceremony. When she first found out that her sister had won the contest, Trina had hoped that she might be invited to the Platinum Music Awards. She'd even asked at one point and offered to give Tori the money to get her one. But of course, Tori was so caught up with everything else that was going on that she'd gotten tickets for all her friends; the fact that she hadn't gotten one, proved to Trina that she didn't fit into that category.

It was perfectly fine with Trina. Tori had given her friends their tickets at school while Trina was within earshot of their excitement on Thursday. It had hurt of course, but she had shaken it off and got back to focusing on her auditions. And after finding out last night that she had gotten an part in the play, she was completely over it now.

After driving for about twenty minutes Trina arrived at Justin's home. It was enormous; true, her family's house was very big when you consider only four people lived there and her dad was a cop, but still this was even bigger. The exterior was a combination of brick and rock, the yard was huge, there was a fountain next to a stone walkway that led to the front door of the house, and there were at least four cars in the driveway. In addition to Justin's Firehawk, there was a red Corvette, a blue Honda Civic, and (Trina gasped seeing the last car) a green '67 Mustang. _'This family __**is **__loaded aren't they,'_ Trina thought.

When she got to the front door, she was nervous as she rang the doorbell. It was a safe bet that Justin was there since his car was out front, but she still had no idea what to expect from whoever else was here. Her usual first impression thought came to mind: _'What if they don't like me?'_ It stuck with her for a few seconds, but then she remembered when she first met all of the All-Stars together and how well that had worked out. Like Justin had asked her before 'What if they do like you?'

Snapping back to reality, Trina heard something inside the house; it sound like someone running on hardwood floor and the sound was getting closer. As Trina tried to figure out what was coming towards her, she heard Justin's familiar voice say, "No wait stop…I said I'd get it; don't open the-"

The door opened and Trina saw the source of the commotion. Standing in the doorway were two identical young teenage girls beaming with excitement when they saw Trina. At first she was confused, but then she remembered Justin mentioning that he had two younger sisters who were twins._ 'Guess this is them,_' Trina thought. Behind them, stood Justin, out of breath and looking embarrassed that he couldn't get to the door in time.

Not exactly sure how to proceed, Trina stood in the doorway for a moment before giving a simple, "Hi."

"Come in, come in," one of the girls cried as each of them grabbed one of Trina's arms and pulled her in the house.

The interior of the house was just as impressive as the outside. A huge chandelier hung over their living room, two expensive sofas and a recliner were seated around an amazing entertainment center, there were family pictures everywhere. It was breathtaking.

Once Trina was fully in the house, the twin she hadn't heard yet asked, "Can I get your jacket?"

Trina nodded before she removed her jacket and handed it to Justin's sister. She disappeared for a moment before coming back to stand beside her twin and just gaze at Trina for a moment. Slightly uncomfortable being looked over by them, Trina tried to think of something to say, but ended up with just saying, "Ummm."

"Welcome to our house," the twin on the right said.

"Nice to have you here," the one on the left finished.

Trina smirked at the pair finished their sentence. It was kinda cute actually. While they were still waiting for Trina to say something they both looked at their brother. Justin was just standing there, observing how the situation went. That is, until his sisters slapped him on the arm of whichever side of his they were on.

"Ow," Justin said in slight shock.

"WELL," the two said in unison.

Sighing, Justin said, "Trina Vega, please meet my sisters: Katie (the twin wearing a light blue top) and Kristy (the twin wearing a hot pink top)."

"Hello," the pair said again in unison.

"Nice to meet you two," Trina said.

"You go to Hollywood Arts, right?" Katie asked Trina.

"Yeah, I go there with your brother," Trina replied.

"We're auditioning to go there next year," Kristy said. "We've both been practicing our own projects and trying to perfect them, but Justin won't give us any feedback." As she finished, she and her sister glared at their brother.

Trina grinned as she saw the semi-helpless situation Justin was in. "Believe it or not girls, he can't," she told them. Her comment caused both girls to turn back to her with identical looks of confusion on their faces.

"All me or Trina can say," Justin told his sisters, "is to practice and make sure and give your best when you do. If you get in, you'll understand why I can't give you feedback once you complete the Bird Scene." Trina nodded in agreement.

While the sisters took a moment to reflect on his words, Trina heard someone a _clacking_ coming towards them; _'someone wearing heels'_ she thought.

"Now girls, don't overwhelm Miss Vega with your questions about what to expect in your future. She is our guest after all," a voice said.

Turning around, Trina saw the owner of the voice. It was none other than Julie Cisco. She was wearing a dark top and pants. Trina had seen her on T.V. and was familiar with who she was; she'd been seen on the red carpet or at concerts with whichever client she was helping at the time. She looked to be about the same age as Trina's mother. She had the same face as her two daughters, but whereas they had chestnut colored hair, Mrs. Cisco had the same dark color that Justin had. She was also about an inch within Trina's height and it was clear that she kept herself in shape.

"Hello, Julie Cisco. Welcome to our home," she said extending her hand to Trina. Trina shook her hand, slightly taken back at her generosity.

"Trina Vega, and thank you so much for having me here," Trina replied.

"It's our pleasure," Julie told her, "Any of Justin's friends are always welcome."

"Especially female friends," Trina heard Kristy say behind her earning a small laugh from her sister.

Justin blushed hearing his sister's talking; Mrs. Cisco even smirked hearing her daughters.

"So," Julie said, bringing Trina's focus back to her, "my son tells me that you would like some help with your singing," she crossed her arms across her chest as she finished.

"Well…"Trina started, "Yes, if you'd be willing to help me some I'd certainly appreciate any help you could give me."

"I'd be glad to," Julie said back positively. "Follow me and we'll get started."

"Can we watch?" Katie and Kristy watched.

"Not right now girls," Julie answered, "Right now I want to help Miss Ve-, I mean Trina out and I don't' think we should have an audience just yet."

Trina smiled at the woman's kindness. Mrs. Cisco wasn't just shooing her daughters away so she could focus only on work. She was gently asking them to respect Trina's privacy.

"Okay mom," they answered before hurrying off.

"And you mister," Julie said turning to Justin, "Aren't you supposed to be helping you father practice?"

"I was," Justin answered, slightly exasperated, "but I wanted to make sure that the clones didn't overwhelm Trina when she got her and…" Seeing his mother's skeptical look Justin stopped, "I'll get right back to that," he said. He gave Trina a look that pretty much said _Good luck _before he walked away.

"Oh, a mother's work is never done," Julie said smiling. Looking back to Trina she asked, "Shall we get started?"

"Sure," Trina answered as she followed the manager through her house.

As they walked Julie asked Trina several questions: what she thought of Hollywood Arts, what all she had done while there, her own opinion about what she needed to work on, etc. Trina answered all questions honestly. She knew she'd gain nothing if she lied to this woman about her abilities; plus she was likely to find out soon and probably already had an idea about them if she saw Trina's audition tape.

When Julie stopped asking her questions, Trina decided to at least try and say something to avoid any uncomfortable silences. "I really like your house," she said when she couldn't think of anything else to talk about.

"Oh thank you," Julie told her. "It took me forever to decide on how and where to put some things but I think it all worked out." She turned to Trina with a curious look on her face. "You don't think it's too much do you?" Julie asked.

"No, no," Trina assured her. "It is big, but it's very nice and I think you and your husband have earned a right to it."

Julie smiled at her. "Thank you. I know we've got a lot and I admit we've probably spoiled the kids some, but still we've done our best to remind them that we've been very blessed with what we have and how much hard work it takes to earn this lifestyle."

"That's a wonderful philosophy to have," Trina told her.

When they got to the recording studio, Julie instructed Trina to sit down for a moment before they got started to talk.

"So," Julie started, "I saw that audition tape that you sent my son for me to review."

Trina shuddered slightly. Even with all the grief she had given herself for her audition tape, she wasn't sure if she could handle someone else's thoughts about it.

Julie sensed Trina's distress. "Sweetie, calm down," she told Trina. Trina looked up to see that the older woman was concerned about her feelings. "There was nothing to be afraid of," Julie said.

Trina calmed down about more, being able to tell that Julie's concern was genuine. "Sorry; I just thought you'd have something negative to say about it," Trina said.

Julie gave a calm sigh, "Listen, if I've learned anything from working with some of the people I have, it's that they have to give as much effort and work as I'm willing to. That's why I ended my deal with Ginger Fox: she cancelled five appointments and left her newborn son here for me to take care of," Julie told Trina, which earned a slight laugh and helped Trina calm down more.

"Now," Julie continued, "I've seen your tape so I know what you need to work on, but I've also seen that you have lots of untapped talent, potential, and I've heard from Justin how dedicated you are to making it as an actress or singer. If you're willing to work with me on this, I guarantee you'll be singing like an angel in a few weeks."

Trina could barely believe the offer, but she could tell Julie was being honest. There was something about how she was saying and offering her help…it was the same way Justin had been when she had officially met him in the Blackbox. It was clear now to Trina that he had inherited his kindness and generosity to others from the woman in front of her. And like before she knew better than to turn it away.

Smiling, Trina looked at Julie and said, "Let's get to it."

_(A little while later)_

"One more time," Julie said, encouraging Trina to give one more attempt.

Trina smiled. For the past hour and a half, Julie had Trina going through several different singing exercises. They started with just getting the right pitch and volume down for Trina before trying any actual songs. The first one they tried was 'Take a Bow' by Rihanna. When Trina first tried it she was tempted to match the recording artist's voice, but after a failed effort she remembered that's what she had attempted in the past. Now though, she had the advantage of knowing what worked best for her and she could utilize that instead.

So, despite the rough start, she started singing and she could tell Julie was getting impressed. After the first song, they went through several other; for the heck of it, Trina decided to have a go at 'The Joke is On You' to see how she could do.

For the last song, Julie had picked one that Trina hadn't heard before. It was by a band she'd heard on Pandora, but she was unfamiliar with this song. It had an electronic, trip hop beat to it, but Trina kinda liked it and thought she'd give it her best.

She cleared her throat before nodding to Julie to star the music. Once she heard the music, she waited for her cue, closed her eyes and began singing.

_**Sit Still  
>And close your eyes<br>What's behind the other door  
>Oh, no more silence<br>Don't kill this thing we got called love  
>Just searching for the perfect drug<strong>_

_**When love comes calling  
>Don't look back<br>When love comes calling  
>Don't look away<strong>_

_**When love comes calling  
>Don't look back<br>When love comes calling  
>Don't look away<strong>_

As she sang, Trina felt herself getting lost in the song. Even though she knew Julie would never insult her like others had in the past, Trina didn't care what anyone could say right now. Nothing else mattered at the moment; it was just her singing the words she'd looked over enough times to get down and set them to music. _****_

_**And I'm standing over here  
>Watching you over there<br>Smiling, happy, unaware  
>Oh, life is spinning round<br>You're going underground  
>Forgetting who we were<br>Let's try and keep it  
>Just one more day<strong>_

_**When love comes calling  
>Don't look back<br>When love comes calling  
>Don't look away<strong>_

_**When love comes calling  
>Don't look back<br>When love comes calling  
>Don't look away<strong>_

_**You take your love  
>And throw it all around<br>Like it's nothing special  
>Just a sound<strong>_

_**Let me say one more thing  
>I don't think you realize<br>That a day is like a year sometime**_

_**When love comes calling  
>Don't look back<br>When love comes calling  
>Don't look away<strong>_

As she finished, she heard clapping, but it was from more than one person. She opened her eyes and saw Katie and Kristy on both sides of Julie all applauding her.

"Awesome," Katie said.

"Great job," Kristy added.

Hugging her daughters to her, Julie just gave Trina a satisfying nod.

Stepping out of the recording studio, Trina met up with the other three women. "Did I do alright?" she asked them to make sure.

"You did wonderful," Julie asked her. "Like I said, keep practicing, work with me when you can, and you'll get even better as the week go by."

"Thank you so much," Trina said, overcome with joy at the progress she'd made.

"You're welcome," Julie answered back as the four of them walked back towards the rest of the house. "Now let's go see what the two big strong men who live here are up to."

Trina followed Julie through a part of the house that she hadn't seen earlier. It was just as impressive as the rest with family photos here and there. They finally arrived in the kitchen and found Justin and his father drinking coffee there. Trina could definitely see a resemblance between the two. Except for a few differences, Justin was the spitting image of his father: Mr. Cisco's hair was a bit thinner than Justin's and it was the same chestnut color as the twins; they were almost exactly the same height, except Mr. Cisco had bulked up more than his son; finally Mr. Cisco's eyes were a bit darker blue when compared to the ocean color that Justin's were.

"Arthur," Julie said walking up to her husband; she sounded slightly frustrated and a little disappointed. "What did I say about drinking coffee?"

Mr. Cisco simply smirked before taking another drink from his mug. "That it's a bad idea if I plan to get enough sleep for the night and losing sleep will decrease the efficiency of my training," he answered his wife.

"Exactly, and you" Julie said turning to her son, "I've told you to help your father cut back on his caffeine intake,"

Justin mimicked his father's initial reaction before saying, "Well he said he had a lot of work to get done before calling it a night…plus him going through caffeine withdrawal won't help any in the situation."

Katie and Kristy laughed at their brother's excuse; Trina herself smirked a bit. Sighing, Julie shook her head before letting the small offense go.

"And who do we have here," Mr. Cisco said, walking over to Trina.

"Dad, this is Trina Vega," Justin answered, "Rising star and my friend from school."

"Pleased to meet you," Trina said, this time stretching out her hand first.

"Likewise; Arthur Cisco," the man answered as he shook Trina's hand. She noticed that he had the same grin she saw Justin wearing so many times.

"So, if you don't mind me asking," Trina asked curiously, "what are you training for sir?"

"Please call me Arthur; sir makes me feel old," Mr. Cisco started. "But to answer your question, there's a charity basketball event coming up that some of my past clients somehow talked me into playing in. Luckily, it's going to be half professional players and half volunteer players so I guess I won't be the only one trying to prove I have athletic talent."

The athletic manager's comment earned a laugh from his family and Trina. They stood there in silence for a moment before Trina spoke up. "Well I guess I better leave you all to it."

"Oh no, please stay; at least have dinner with us," Julie asked Trina as she checked the oven.

"Oh it's okay, I don't want to intrude," Trina reasoned with them.

"It's perfectly alright," Arthur told her as he walked over to hug his wife. "It's kind of a tradition we started: meet someone new, invite them to dinner."

Trina had to admit she was tempted. She checked the clock, 8:30. She was missing the Platinum Music Awards, but that didn't bother Trina too much. For one, she knew she could catch the entire performance again the next day. Second, she wasn't sure she wanted to see Jade's performance. While Tori's insults had hurt Trina the most because they were coming from her sister, Jade's were a close second. Trina could only imagine what Jade would say if she heard Trina saw her perform at the awards: _'How did it feel to see someone with actual talent up there Trina?'_

Also, Trina had no idea if anyone was back at her house yet. _'Not likely,'_ she told herself, so she knew there wasn't much chance of there being a dinner awaiting her when she got back, and she really didn't want fast food tonight. She could tell the five people surrounding her really wanted her there.

"So," Justin stated, "Would you care to join us?" he asked.

In the end, Trina thought it would be a shame not to, so she just replied, "Why not?"

_(Later)_

"Oh, I'm so tired now," Trina told Justin as they walked outside.

"I hear ya," he answered back.

"Your mother's a great manager and an awesome cook," Trina told him. Even though they had finished almost two hours ago, Trina was still stuffed from the meal: grilled chicken parmesan, French bread, garden salad, and green tea. She now knew why Justin worked out as much as he did. "I admit I was a little surprised when I saw that small basket of mints set out when we were finished though."

Justin laughed. "My mom put that out after her first meeting with Ginger Fox, when she realized Ginger isn't one for oral hygiene," he said earning a laugh from Trina.

After they finished dinner, Julie asked if she could see Justin and Trina run through the lines for their upcoming play a few times. They went back to the recording studio and practiced for a while. Julie even read some lines so she could see how Trina worked on her own. They finished around 10:00. Julie looked impressed. The only comment she had was that Trina and Justin acted too _close_ in the play. Obviously, since they had spent so much time both practicing as the two characters that were in love in the play, it was true.

"I can't thank you enough for all this," Trina said looking at Justin.

"It's no problem, really," he assured her.

"No, I mean it," Trina emphasized. "Even if I don't have the lead, I know that I couldn't have gotten anywhere close to a part in the play that I have if you hadn't helped me so much. And just thank you in general for being there and not insulting me through any of this."

Justin pulled her to him in a hug. As his arms encircled her and she put her arms around him, he said, "I'd never do that. You work harder than so many people and you never get the offer to show how good you can be. Now that you've overcome any the anxieties that were holding you back and you know you've got people behind you giving you support, I know you've got this."

Trina smiled as he finished. When they pulled back slightly, they both stopped for a minute, lost in each other's gaze.

Trina didn't know what to do. She probably wouldn't have been surprised to know that Justin didn't either. Either way, after a few seconds of silence they both leaned in, slightly tilting their heads to the side before their lips met in a soft kiss.

They lost track of how long they stayed like that, neither one of them moving. They were both just content to remain like that with their lips pressed against one another's.

When they finally pulled away, Trina's sight was blurry and she felt feverish about what had just happened. She'd just kissed Justin and he'd kissed her back. As her vision cleared she noticed he looked just as flushed and surprised as she did.

After an unknown period of silence, Justin gave a slight cough and said, "So uh, can I walk you to your car."

Trina blushed even more. _'Apparently he's trying to sort out the situation in his head too,'_ she thought. "It's right there, but sure," she told him.

They walked over to Trina's car in silence, still processing what had just happened.

"Well," Trina said, trying to find the words, "Thanks again…I'll see you on Monday."

"Right," Justin replied, "Do me a favor and text me to let me know you made it home all right?"

"Sure," Trina answered as she stepped into her car. "Well, have a good night," she told Justin while smiling.

"You too," Justin said, returning her smile.

A few seconds later, Trina was backing out of the driveway and headed back to her home. She noticed that Justin watched her leave until she could no longer see his house in her rearview mirrors.

After driving for a few minutes, Trina started reliving the last few minutes with Justin and couldn't believe it happened. What had turned into a chance to meet a talent manager and work on her singing had ended up as meeting Justin's family and ended with them sharing a goodnight kiss. Trina had a sudden thought, _'Was all this just an excuse for me to meet his family?'_ At first she thought it was an unusual effort, but then again Trina had to admit, Justin was one for surprises.

As the road straightened out for a few miles, Trina took one hand off the wheel and put her fingers to her lips. She let out a satisfied breath as she remembered how Justin's lips felt against hers.

'_Amazing,'_ she thought.

_(Back at the Vega residence)_

Tori and her friends rushed inside her house in excitement. They had just got back from the Platinum Music Awards. Tori had been unsure about going; after she had lost the role for not wanting to act and dress like Thornesmith wanted and Jade accepted it on the spot like she had, all she'd wanted to do was stay in her house away from everyone. She felt comforted when her friends came over, but she could tell that Robbie and Andre wanted to be at the Awards instead. While she was sitting there with just Beck, Tori felt comforted by his presence and in a moment they both leaned in to kiss. Tori had wanted to, in an effort to spite Jade, but she knew it wouldn't be right. After all, she was trying to get Jade to accept her friendship and kissing her ex would undo all that.

It had paid off. Cat had left the video chat feed open and Jade had seen Tori resist Beck and then explain how she considered Jade a friend despite all her efforts against Tori. So when Tori got to the Awards to offer her support, Jade revealed she had seen the whole thing and knew that Tori should be the one singing instead. After some sneakiness, Tori got to perform 'Make it in America' at the Platinum Music Awards dressed as herself. Her friends were ecstatic to see her and Jade even said she was great.

"Tori," her mother said excitedly coming out of the kitchen to hug her youngest daughter.

Her dad walked over to them as well. "We saw your performance on T.V.; you were wonderful," he exclaimed.

Tori savored her parents' compliments before looking back at her group of friends. She was thankful to have them all here. To make the situation even better, she finally knew that Jade considered her a friend. Sure it had taken forever, but it was worth it.

Still, there was one thing that was missing from all this: Trina.

Tori had first noticed when she got finished performing and got back to her friends at the awards. They all congratulated her, but as she took in their praise, she noticed that her sister wasn't one of them. Instantly, Tori remembered that when she first found out she won the contest, she only asked for tickets for her five friends. She'd forgotten to get one for Trina. She further felt bad because she'd pushed Trina away the other day when she was told she needed to act more mean and diva like.

Thinking of her sister, Tori asked, "Where's Trina? Is she upstairs?"

Her parents exchanged equal looks of confusion. "She's not here Tori," her dad said, "She wasn't here when your mom and I got back and we haven't heard from her since this morning. Was she at the Awards?"

"I…don't know," Tori said, "She might have been but I didn't see her there."

As if on cue, Trina stepped into the Vega household while everyone started to think about where she could be. They were surprised, however, when they saw her expression. Trina appeared to be slightly dazed, but judging by the smile she was wearing, she was very happy.

"Trina!" Cat said as she made her way over to the older Vega. "Can you believe what happened at the Platinum Music Awards?"

"Oh…right," Trina said, looking beyond Cat and everyone else in the room. Trina walked up next to Cat and patted her on the shoulder slightly. "Good job Jade, good job," she mistakenly told a confused Cat.

"What?" Jade asked, adding to the growing confusion in the room.

"No, no, Trina, Jade didn't sing," Tori said. "I did. I got to perform at the Platinum Music Awards," she said excitedly.

"Oh," Trina said still in her own world, "Good for you then Tori."

Tori was shocked at her sister's lack of reaction. After all, this was probably the biggest event of Tori's career so f-, _'Wait a minute,'_ Tori thought. When Trina came in she congratulated Jade for performing, not Tori. That meant…

"Trina," Tori asked while shaking her sister, "Did you watch the Platinum Music Awards tonight?"

That seemed to bring Trina back to reality some. "Oh," Trina said, "Sorry, no; I missed them. I was practicing and I lost track of time."

"You missed all of it?" Tori asked.

"Yeah, I practiced my singing, stopped for a while to have dinner, and then Justin and I practiced our lines for a while," Trina explained.

No one had a response to Trina's admittance. After all, her family knew she watched the Platinum Music Awards every year and this year she'd submitted an audition tape to try and perform. It didn't make sense.

"It's okay Tori," Trina said pulling away. "They'll be on at least 3 or 4 times a day for the next two weeks. I can see it anytime then."

After another awkward few moments of silence, Trina said, "Well, if that's everything, I think I'm gonna go to bed. Night everyone." And with that, Trina hurried upstairs, leaving a confused room full of people to wonder what could have made her miss one of the biggest ceremonies on T.V. and why she seemed so happy when she got home.

**Well there you go. I know this chapter is probably as confusing as hell. Frankly I don't like it myself. It was basically just a way of finishing my version of the Tori Goes Platinum episode. Like I said in my previous chapters I ignored the part about Trina putting condiments on her face. Plus I wanted to make sure that Tori had her driver's license (it has importance in later chapters) so I put that in.**

**I probably made Tori seem mean about not giving Trina a ticket to the awards, but if you pay attention during the end of the episode, you see that Trina isn't at the Platinum Music Awards…so since my story is meant to have something good happen for Trina, I decided to use this chapter to really enhance the relationship between Justin and Trina.**

**As always, please review; don't be afraid to criticize this chapter. Like I said, I don't like it (it's all over the place). If I need to correct anything let me know. By the way, the song that I included the lyrics from is called 'Don't Look Back' by a group called Telepopmusik (heard them a while back on Pandora).**

**My next chapter will be up by Tuesday (no idea what time though). I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I will say it's an important chapter so I strongly recommend you re-read earlier chapters to know where some of the material is coming from. **

**Thank you and good luck with any stories that you may be currently writing or whatever else is going on in your life.**


	13. Remember When You Said This

**And here is the next chapter. First of all, thank you to everyone who reviewed my previous chapter. I'm glad you liked it and I hope that my future chapters continue to live up to your expectations.**

**Second, I hope that you either remember, or reread the earlier chapters because they are important here. This chapter reads kind of slow; I wanted the beginning to follow the same fashion as my others and since I've kinda built up the play Justin and Trina are in in recent chapters I decided to discuss that as the middle section. HOWEVER, I will say that I am kinda proud of the ending. It's a section that I've had planned out since before I even had an account on this site so I think it's well-written. Please let me know.**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Victorious or anything else mentioned besides my OC characters.**

**And now for your reading pleasure:**

Despite the amazing end to her time at Justin's house on Saturday, Trina Vega was beyond thankful when she got to school on Monday.

When she had gotten home Saturday night, Trina barely registered anything in her house. All that was on her mind was her kiss with Justin. Once she was awake on Sunday, she tried recalling what had happened the night before.

After a little bit, she was pretty sure she had everything set straight in her mind; Tori's friends were over at her house when she first got home. for what Trina guessed was one of the few times in Jade West's life, Jade had a guilt trip at the Platinum Music Awards and decided to let Tori sing in her place. All of Tori's friends came over to her house to celebrate their friend's achievement. While everyone had initially been cheerful, Trina's admittance that she hadn't seen her sister's performance, put a damper on the rest of the night.

Trina sighed heavily when she thought about everyone's reaction the next day. They were all being critical for not seeing Tori. Yes, she was sorry for missing Tori's performance, but come on. First of all, Trina hadn't been able to get a ticket to the ceremony; so while all of Tori's friends got the (possibly) once in a lifetime chance to see her perform live, Trina didn't. Clearly she wouldn't feel all the excitement that Jade and the others felt for Tori.

Second, the Platinum Music Awards were replayed on T.V. several times for at least two weeks after the event. No matter what, watching the Awards on T.V. was the only way Trina would get to see them. And she did; the Awards were on MTV at 12 PM Sunday so she watched them then. Trina thought her sister did a great job and told Tori that, but since Trina didn't show the same hype that everyone else had, she didn't believe Trina's claim about seeing them. So when the Awards were replayed that night at 8:00, Trina was downstairs in the family room with her sister watching them again. All through Tori's singing, their parents walked through to comment on what they saw. _'Obviously praising the only daughter they'd ever be proud of,'_ Trina was thinking the entire time. At the end she told her sister the same thing, but still they apparently thought she wasn't truly recognizing the significance of the event. So as a way to get everyone off her back, she let Tori drive them both to school Monday morning in Trina's car.

Trina had meant what she said, but no one believed her. That was perfectly fine with her. Like she'd decided last week, she wouldn't let anything that any of them said or thought get to her anymore. She was finally trying to live her own life away from them…and to be honest, she had no complaints.

One of the reasons she was glad to be at school today was because practices for the upcoming play she was in started today. Trina couldn't deny that she still had some disappointment at not getting the role she wanted just because Lindsay pitched a fit, but she was pretty much over it now. She'd still gotten on that stage, gave her best, and managed to earn an important role. And not only that, Trina knew she'd shocked all the students present.

Trina smiled at the thought as she walked into school. She knew when she first signed up what everyone would think when they saw her at the auditions last week. Chances are that since Sikowitz was helping with the putting on the play at the school, he'd thought the same thing…probably even gave the director some advice about everyone on the list. Whatever everyone else had thought at the time didn't matter anymore. Despite her being nervous before auditioning, Trina got to prove all of them (as well as herself) wrong about her being talentless.

Saturday night had certainly helped out as well. Getting to meet and work with Justin's mother was certainly one of the highlights of her life. Trina could tell Julie was truly willing to help anyone who asked her. She didn't just give up on people she was working with. If people came to her and were truly willing to commit to improving their skills, she would give the same amount of effort. When Trina had first tried singing in front of her, Julie didn't just cut her off. She took the time to listen and give advice to Trina, pick out different songs for her to attempt, and applauded her when they were done. She'd given the same careful observations and advice when she watched Trina and Justin practice their acting together.

Justin's dad had been just as nice and committed to his field of work. Trina thought it was very admirable that Arthur was putting so much effort to help with charity. He was also clearly impressed with Trina when she revealed she had some sports knowledge as well to being a Laker's fan. So much that he offered her tickets if she ever wanted.

Even the twins were nice to her. Trina found Katie and Kristy very sweet and cute. They had similar tastes in fashion, favorite actresses, the two of them even went to the same salon Trina did. They further admitted to being Hunger Games fans. Trina laughed when they glared at Justin for being able to go to the Premiere; his only defense was that he got them an autograph from Jennifer Lawrence.

Even though she had only met them all once, and as crazy as it sounded, Trina felt closer to the Cisco family then she did her own.

The kiss with Justin was what made the entire night unforgettable. It wasn't just the fact that it was Justin, but what he represented to Trina: the first person in forever that was genuinely nice to and clearly cared about her. She didn't care about all his fame or what it would do to her popularity status if everyone else found out. At that moment, all Trina cared about was just his arms around her and the comfort he gave her.

Now all Trina had to figure out was what this meant for the two of them. She knew for a fact she liked him and she was willing to bet that he liked her. She just wasn't sure where to go from he-

"Hey!" Trina heard, breaking her train of thought. She turned to see Kathleen hurrying over to her with Nora not far behind.

"Hey," Trina said back, grateful to see them.

"We heard about the results of the auditions Friday," Nora told her, "How do you feel about it?"

Trina shrugged. "Honestly I feel great about it. So I didn't get the lead; I'm still in, I've got a good part, and I'm gonna give it my all,"

"Terrific," Kathleen said. "And how did Saturday go?"

"Just as awesome; that family is the greatest," Trina answered.

Nora nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's hard to find a family like the Ciscos," she said.

"Yeah," Trina said, "Julie and Arthur seemed really nice."

"And aren't the twins sweet?" Kathleen asked. "I used to babysit them when they were younger."

Trina agreed, but was slightly confused. "Didn't Justin ever watch them?"

"He did," Trina heard from behind her. She turned around to see Justin, Sean, and Allen walking towards her and the others. "but after one said babysitting effort resulted in him having to wait 2 hours while they shopped around Build-A-Bra when they were 12, Kathy took over," Sean finished.

All his friends around him laughed when Justin trembled at the memory. "Never again," he said.

After they all finished laughing, Allen stepped over to kiss his girlfriend. "Congratulations again to you by the way," he told her, causing her to blush.

Curious, Trina asked, "What's happened."

"I submitted a screenplay to put on at the Abramson Theatre and they liked it," Nora explained.

"That's wonderful," Trina said. The Abramson put on amazing productions every year. They did several showings, but they only put on between 4-5 plays a year and rarely accepted a script from a student.

"Thanks," Nora told her, blushing. "It's not much."

"Not much!" Allen said in surprise at her. When Nora shrugged at his comment he sighed. "Well with this and Trina and Justin getting parts I think we should all celebrate tonight."

No one disagreed with the idea. "How 'bout Devlin's," Nora asked.

Again, everyone seemed to agree with the idea. Devlin's was a place a few miles away from Hollywood Arts. It wasn't as high end as Thaison's, but it was still a great place. It was a cross between a diner and a coffeehouse. There was also a stand on one side for local bands to come play or people to get up and sing karaoke. The owner was actually a former Hollywood Arts student and current playwright. He was always happy to meet some of the students from his Alma Mater; in fact he offered a discount for HA students.

"Perfect," Kathleen said, "That way we can sing karaoke and maybe the guys' band can play tonight."

Trina looked at Justin and the guys with a curious look. "You guys are a band?"

"We're not a band," Justin said sighing. "We're just three guys who can play instruments. So we play for friends at places that will let us, take requests for songs, and occasionally write one ourselves…okay we're a band," he admitted when he saw Trina's skeptical look.

"So, if you can, will you guys play tonight?" Nora asked Allen.

Allen looked at Justin and Sean to see their response. Seeing their friend's look, the two exchanged glances to see if the other was willing to go along with the notion. Sean simply shrugged at the thought. Justin smirked before saying, "Why not?"

"All right," Allen said walking to his two band mates giving them quick should pats. "Just give us sometime after school to get our stuff and we'll see if we can go on tonight."

"Let's go ahead and say we meet there at about 7:30. Don't forget, Trina and I have practice after school today," Justin said.

They all agreed to the time at the same instant they heard the bell ring overhead. After Justin and the guys walked off, Trina turned to see Kathleen and Nora giving her suspicious looks.

"What's with the looks?" she asked.

"Well," Kathleen started, "judging by how you and Justin were avoiding each other's looks and having such little conversation with each other…I'd say something else happened Saturday."

Try as she might to hide it, Trina couldn't hide her surprise at Kathleen's correct guess. Obviously she and Nora picked up on Trina's response and knew she was hiding something.

"It wasn't really anything," Trina stuttered. "I got over there, got some help from Julie, had dinner with all of them, Justin and I practiced our lines"

"And?" Kathleen and Nora asked her in unison.

Trina wasn't sure if she should reveal the rest…but these were two of Justin's closest friends and they seemed happy that he was spending so much time with Trina. "Well we talked for a bit before I left and," she paused for a moment, "we kissed."

Whatever she expected, Trina didn't know what to think now that she registered the authentic shock on the two girls faces.

Trina didn't have to wait long to figure it out though. A few awkward moments later, they both were identically smiling ear to ear.

"Oh my God!," Kathleen squealed.

"Tell us all about it," Nora said as they pulled Trina towards class. Trina couldn't help but chuckle at their response as she did her best to relay the full night's events.

_(Later at practice)_

"Where in the world is she," Jerry asked as he continued to pace up and down the theater aisles. "It's our first official day of rehearsing and she's 30 minutes late."

It may have been a surprise to their director that Lindsay was so late, but not to Trina, Justin, and every other student present. No one would deny Lindsay's acting ability. She was good and performed regularly in school plays, but she was also the head cheerleader at Hollywood Arts. It was something she'd been doing since middle school, so it was clear to everyone that it was the primary commitment in her life. Add to the fact that it was well-known that she didn't like showing up to practice…it made her unpopular with anyone directing the plays she was in.

Sighing heavily, Jerry looked up at his cast. "Be honest," he asked, "Is this something that is usual for her?" He had his answer when he could see how everyone was processing the question. Giving another sigh, he said, "All right; Trina, Justin let's try and go through a few of your scenes for now."

The two walked up on stage and went through their lines. Even though Trina's character didn't have the same amount of interaction as the leading female did with Justin's character, there were three scenes that the two of them were in. They got through the first one with relative ease. The second was definitely more emotional.

"I still don't get it," Trina said in character.

Following the script, Justin said, "I don't understand why she did it either. If it were me I probably would have been comfortable just letting me d-."

"No, not that," Trina responded, "She donated her own kidney to save your life because she loves you. What I don't get is why you, someone who told her they loved her, who she was ready to spend her life with, would rather break off your relationship instead of just telling her the truth."

Staying in character and taking a dramatic pause, Justin answered, "I didn't want her to suffer."

"You broke her heart!" Trina appropriately exclaimed, "You think she's not suffering from that?"

"It'd be better than her mourning me if we stayed together!" Justin said back.

"Why would you think that?" Trina answered.

"I watched my father suffer from his disease and then die when I was 10," Justin said. "Then, for the next 10 years, I saw my mother mourn him, all the while wasting away trying to take care of me until she died too. The doctors theorized that with me grown and out of the house, she lost the only thing she had left to live for. They didn't have to say it, but I knew she died of the heartache she'd felt for years."

On cue, Justin appeared to have the same breakdown that the script called for. _'Oh, he's very good,' _Trina thought.

"I know Jackie isn't the same. She's the strongest woman I've ever known. She would've gotten over me eventually and moved on. But I didn't want her to have to wait and miss someone who could make her happy and give her the life she deserves," he finished sitting down.

Trina moved over to him as the script described; she sat down and took Justin's hand before looking him in the eye. "Maybe she would've found someone else, and maybe she they would've made her happy," she said. "But I remember Jackie's boyfriends before you. She was never as happy. You made her that way. You were giving her the life and happiness she deserves. Now that you know you're going to live, why should you let anyone else?

After a few moments of silence, they heard a single person clapping.

"Brilliant!" Jerry called out to them causing two of his actors to blush. "You two work so well together. This is going to be-."

"The star is here," Lindsay called out interrupting Jerry. She walked down towards the stage with an air of confidence about her. She didn't even seem to take in that everyone present was semi-glaring at her.

"You're late!" their director called out.

Lindsay simply shrugged. "Sorry," she said unenthusiastically, "I forgot the time we started."

Jerry's look clearly showed he was ticked. "We start at 4:00; DON'T forget it."

Lindsay gave the same shrug, "Let's just get started."

Trina, Justin, the other cast members, and even Jerry had looks of despair on their faces. Clearly they knew the next hour and a half would not be easy.

_(7:00 at the Vega household)_

"Thanks for getting here a little early to help me set up Andre," Tori said.

"Hey, no problem Tori. After all, you're the one who hosts these things so it's the least any of us could do," Andre replied.

Once they made sure that the poker table was set up, Tori went to the kitchen to check if she had everything. _'Okay cards are on the table; I've got chips, sodas, coupons in case we want pizza. That's everything,'_ she thought.

"Are you sure that everyone has a way of getting here?" Tori asked Andre.

"Yep; Jade's gettin' Cat, Beck's grabbin' Robbie and Rex; and Andre's already here so that should be everyone," he replied earning a laugh from Tori.

"Great," Tori said.

An instant later the doorbell rang causing Tori to run to the door. Sure enough, all of her friends were on the other side.

"T'sup Tori," Beck said as he and the others entered.

"Not much. Just finished setting up," Tori answered. "Soooo, anyone need anything before we start?"

"Yeah, a question answered Tori," Jade said. "Why are there seven chairs at the poker table?"

"Oh…uhhhh," Tori mumbled. When she invited her friends over earlier today she hadn't told them one of her intentions for the night. "I was thinking of asking Trina if she wanted to join us," she said cautiously.

Although they weren't distressed or as severe as Tori had anticipated, she could tell that she'd confused her friends with her plan. It didn't matter though; Tori was still intent on going through with it.

Once Trina had gotten home on Saturday, Tori had been in disbelief that her sister missed seeing her perform at the Platinum Music Awards as well as the rest of the event. Even before getting into Hollywood Arts, Trina watched the Awards at least three times besides the initial showing. Early the next day, Tori checked what times the Awards would be showing and gave the list to Trina.

After she saw the 12:00 showing had ended, Tori asked Trina what she thought. Her sister's response was that Tori had done a great job…That was it? Even Jade had said that Tori was amazing, but Trina's response wasn't said with half the enthusiasm that everyone else's had been. The difference caused Tori to think that her sister didn't even actually watch it.

So later at 8:00 she made her Trina come and watch it with her down in the family room; this time Tori could make sure that her sister saw it instead of possibly skipping to other channels like she might have when Trina "claimed" to have watched it earlier in her room. However, despite their parents' occasional comments at seeing Tori on stage, Trina gave the same response and then simply walked back upstairs.

The rest of the night Tori asked herself several times what was making her sister seem so different. Taking a step back from her own life, she tried thinking about what all had been going on with her sister in the past few weeks.

Ever since Tuesday, two weeks ago, Trina had been sitting with Justin Cisco and the other members of the All-Stars at lunch and was regularly seen talking with them outside of class; she even went shopping with two of them later that week. Then the Friday of that week, not only did Trina get a ride to school with Justin, but she also got to go with him and his friends to the Hollywood Premiere and after party for the Hunger Games.

Apparently, the All-Stars were being genuinely nice to Trina. When she and Justin stopped by class last week to get scripts for the upcoming senior play, Justin defended her when everyone was asking how she got into Hollywood Arts and even said she did a great job at her audition.

When the announcement came about the chance to perform at the Platinum Music Awards, Tori wasn't surprised to find her sister trying out. What was surprising was that after she lost, she didn't react the same way as she normally did when she didn't get a chance to perform. Instead of complaining about the judge's incompetence or boasting about herself, it seemed as though Trina practically pushed it aside and moved on.

Of course, Tori had no way of being sure about this. She'd been so caught up in getting ready for the Awards that she barely paid her sister any mind last week. Looking back, all Tori remembered was that her sister was getting home later than usual every day.

Tori had no idea why until she got to school today. From what everyone was saying, Trina had auditioned for the upcoming play. That wasn't what surprised everyone; the real surprise to everyone at Hollywood Arts was the Trina had gotten one of the top three roles in the play. Furthermore, everyone who had seen her was blown away by her audition. They all said the director himself thoroughly enjoyed Trina's audition and was originally considering her for the lead.

But it wasn't just the surprise of finding out that her sister had gotten a part. Heck, even the fact that people were saying that Trina had been fantastic paled in comparison into what surprised Tori the most. The real surprise was that she had to find out from random students instead of straight from Trina. Her sister hadn't bragged about getting a part; she hadn't complained about not getting the lead; Tori hadn't even seen Trina practicing around the house at all.

All that, plus the changes in Trina's normal behavior just confused Tori more about what was going on with her sister. She decided to try and confront her about it tonight…and since she wasn't entirely sure how to proceed, she wanted her friends to be there for support.

Now she just hoped the fact that Trina would be present wouldn't drive them all away.

To Tori's surprise, Jade was the first one to responds. Her newest (it was official now) friend simply shrugged and said, "Whatever," before making her way to the table.

The shock on everyone's faces at the Goth's comment was what Tori had been expecting to see when she said Trina might be joining them. Even Tori was shocked that Jade was the first person to respond.

"You sure?" Tori asked uncertainly.

"Why not," Robbie said before taking his place at the table.

"It's cool with me," Beck said following suit.

"Sounds good," Cat said once she sat down.

Everyone sounded like they had no problem with it, but to make sure, Tori had to ask, "So you guys are okay with it?"

"Yeah Tori we're all fine with it," Andre said patting her shoulder as he passed her on his way to the table. "Personally I wanna hear more about this play she's doing and what it's like hanging with the All-Stars."

Everyone else at the table nodded in agreement.

Tori gave a slight smile. "Well terrific. I'm glad you're all good with it."

"So where is the potential guest of honor right now Tori?" Jade asked raising her eyebrows.

"She's upstairs; I think she wanted to knock out her homework early," Tori guessed while she setting out drinks for her friends.

As Tori finished her parents walked in the front door.

"Hey Tori," her dad said as he walked to the fridge, "and Tori's friends who have no other place to hang out."

"Dad," Tori said slightly embarrassed.

David smirked. "Just joking," he said earning a slap on the arm from his wife.

"It's okay Mr. Vega," Robbie said, "We're glad you let us hang out here."

"We have no problem with you kids hanging out here," Holly said.

"Just make sure and warn us if you're gonna show up here on our anniversary again," David said causing everyone to laugh.

"By the way, does anyone know what Trina's up to? I didn't see her when you all got home." Holly asked.

"I drove myself home Mom; she had to stay after for play practice and caught a ride from someone," Tori explained.

"She's in a play?" Holly asked confused.

"Yeah," Cat answered for Tori, "and apparently her part's pretty important."

Holly and David exchanged looks. "Has she said anything to you about it?" David asked his wife.

"Not a word," Holly answered.

"Same here," David responded. "She's not really said anything lately."

As everyone recalled the last time that they'd actually talked to Trina, the girl came down the stairs. She had her purse on her arm and she had her keys already in her hand.

When she first got down the stairs Trina didn't notice everyone else watching her; it wasn't until she was halfway to the front door that she turned to everyone staring at her.

"Trina…are you going somewhere?" Tori asked.

"Yeah, I'm meeting Justin and the others tonight. Don't wait up," Trina said.

"Wait, Trina," Tori said trying to keep her sister from leaving.

Trina gave a soft sigh as she turned around, getting slightly frustrated at being held up.

"We were actually gonna ask if you wanted to hang with us tonight," Tori asked hopefully.

Trina gave her sister and her friends a confused look. "I can't. I already told them I was on my way so they're all expecting me," she said turning back to the door.

"Trina, please wait; just…listen for a second," Tori pleaded.

Trina sighed again before facing everyone again. Only this time, she wasn't trying to hide how aggravated she was getting. "What?" she asked.

"For the past two weeks you've been acting completely unlike yourself," Tori told her sister. "You sit with completely different people at school; you're rarely home anymore and when you are you're just up in your room; you've practically avoided all of us like we were diseased. And now you get this huge break by getting a big role in a play directed by an actual Hollywood director and you don't say a thing or even post a status update on The Slap."

Trina stood there listening to her sister's exasperated statement. Once Tori was finished, Trina simply shrugged. "I guess I just thought no one would care," she said to a shocked room.

"Why would you think that?" Cat asked quietly.

"I don't know Cat," Trina said in a harsh sarcastic tone. "I guess I've just been wondering why any of you would care about what's going on in the life of someone you think is annoying, delirious, materialistic, narcissistic, unattractive, a talentless loser, and…let's see Tori you said three things. I think they were…stupid, awful and worthless," Trina finished her statement, looking curiously at the room and taking in everyone's faces.

Except for Trina, everyone present was wide eyed and wore a shocked expression on their face.

After a few moments, Holly decided to speak up. "Trina…I'm sure that whate-."

"Oh don't worry Mom," Trina interrupted with. "I mean, if anything, I suppose I should at least be grateful they didn't just abandon me in Yerba. Especially since they were offered everything under the sun to not bring me back."

Once Trina finished, Tori and her friends all looked at Holly and David. The couple looked horrified at the realization their oldest daughter had heard them say that.

"Well none of you need to worry anymore," Trina said, bringing the focus back to her. "Because from now on, you won't have to be afraid that I'll mess up or interfere with whatever you're doing. I won't get involved or have anything to do with any of you. And Dad, this will make you happy. Once I graduate, I promise I'll go as far away as I possibly can afford to and never bother you or Mom for anything again."

And with that, Trina re-shouldered her purse, opened the front door, and stepped out. "Enjoy your night," she told everyone in the house before closing the door.

Once the door closed the entire room was silent. Everyone stood riveted to wherever they were and just stared at the door Trina had just left, too paralyzed by what she said to move.

But out of everyone there, it was likely that Tori was the most devastated. As her sister revealed that she had heard everything that they had all said about her, Tori could swear that she felt her heart stop as she heard the words.

While she was still too shocked to move, Tori noticed that something was turning around. When she found herself staring at her friends sitting around the poker table she looked up to see Andre next to her, with his hand on her shoulder. "Come on Tori," he said softly, "Take a seat."

Tori slowly sat down, but she was barely aware of it. She took a brief look around the room to see everyone else. All her friends were looking at the table, purposefully avoiding looking at each other while they recovered from the fact that Trina had overheard their insults. Tori took a second to notice her parents as well. Her mother had her hand over her heart and Tori could tell she was fighting back tears. Her dad just stared blankly at the door; his mouth agape and slightly trembling.

As she heard her sister's monologue play again in her head, there was one phrase that struck Tori the most: _'I won't get involved or have anything to do with any of you.'_

'_God…what have I done,'_ Tori asked herself.

**And there it is. The conflict some of you predicted. I don't know if it met your expectations or if I made it too harsh, but like I said, I've had this planned out for a long time. **

**I hope that I didn't make Trina too mean here. It's just that I've read some Trina-centric stories where there is a conflict between her and Tori and, no offense intended if you've written them, but they're usually a bit short and always involve Trina apologizing when Tori's the one who starts it or is the really hurtful one. For my story, I intend to draw this out for a while and involve a bit of soul searching.**

**I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that the next chapter probably won't be what you think. Don't worry though; I have ideas for my next 3-4 chapters roughly sketched out. I won't be able to update until mid-late next week; I have a final coming up in my online class that I'm trying to knock out plus I have to pick up extra shifts at my job since I asked off for vacation time.**

**Hope you enjoyed and as always please review.**


	14. Where I Want to Be

**First of all, a thousand pardons for my delay in posting this. My summer class is over, but like I mentioned in my previous chapter, I've been scheduled for a lot of extra shifts at my job; I have to compensate for my taking vacation time while at the same time covering for everyone who is currently on vacation. Still I know that's no excuse.**

**Second, thank you for all the positive reviews for the next chapter. Like I said I thought it's one that I've thought about since before I started writing this officially. Which is why I'm sorry about the quality of this current chapter; I knew what I wanted to include in it, but I didn't know how to go about it. So please forgive my lateness and the poor state of this chapter. **

**I have the next chapter already started, but I need opinions about some ideas so please read my comments at the end of this chapter and if you have any suggestions, please include them in a review.**

**Disclaimer:**** Don't own Victorious, any songs/celebrities mentioned; just my OC characters.**

Los Angeles was always beautiful, just before dusk. As the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon, the last few rays it cast, and the occasional red sky, added a warm glow over the city. On this particular night, Trina Vega was taking in the sight as she made her way to Devlin's.

As she drove to meet up with Justin and the others, Trina let out a slight sigh. However, for the first time in…probably forever, it was out of satisfaction instead of depression.

Along the way, she'd replayed the events that took place at her house before she left several times in her head. Every time she did, she took the time to carefully remember her words and the genuine shock registered on everyone's faces. _'Good,'_ she thought.

She didn't mean that in that she wanted to hurt them; even after everything they had put her through she didn't want to stoop that low. She was just glad that she had finally stood up to everyone there: the people who had hurt her the most.

By doing so, Trina showed them that she wasn't oblivious to their actions and insults. Instead of trying to get back at them or keeping up the act of ignorance, she'd felt confident enough to give them what they wanted. They'd never wanted her around so that's how things would be from now on. As she'd told them all, she'd never get involved or bother any of them ever again.

Despite her declarations Trina was sure it wouldn't be that simple. She was almost certain that some of them, most likely Tori or her parents, would confront her about it and remind her of how she'd acted in the past.

That was fine with Trina. Let them remind her of who she used to be. Let them use some of her less than shining moments as justifications for their insulting her without ever considering her feelings. Trina knew she'd been selfish in the past and she was willing to admit and apologize for that. But for any of them to think that her previous behavior gave them the right to utterly dismiss her as a person was worse than anything she'd done.

As she pulled into Devlin's, Trina resolved to not think about anyone she'd just left at her house. Right now there were only five people she wanted to concern herself with and they were waiting for her outside the entrance.

Exiting her car, Trina could tell that Justin and the others were happy she'd made it. And she was equally happy to be here, where she had always felt accepted by the group.

"Hey," Nora called out to her, "glad you could make it tonight."

Trina smiled at them all. "I'd never miss a chance to hang out with you all," she told her friends.

They returned her smile; despite her only getting to know them all in the past two weeks, Trina knew that she considered her a close friend.

"Well now that everyone's here, I guess we can head on in," Justin said. And with that, they all headed inside.

Despite being privately owned, Devlin's was fairly large. Like a typical diner, there were the bar stools at the front near the grill and several tables around, but Devlin, the owner who'd named the bar after himself, had also tried to give his business a more "hip" design. There were several pictures and posters of musicians and actors on the walls, a few design guitars artistically placed in locked cases around the room, three billiard tables at one side, and the stage for karaoke and bands at the center wall. Even though the staff only consisted of the owner and about five employees, the service was pretty good.

As Trina, Justin, and the other All Stars entered, they saw Devlin at the front drying some of his coffee mugs off. Hearing someone come in, he looked up to greet them. "Well, if it isn't a few future stars from my old stomping grounds," Devlin said.

"How's it going D?" Justin asked as he walked up and shook Devlin's hand.

"Pretty good man," Devlin responded, "Business is pretty good, my new girlfriend Cheryl's happy, and I'm working on my next play…and congrats to you Nora. I hear the Abramson accepted your script."

Trina noticed Nora blushed at the comment. "Thanks," Nora said, "It took forever to get them to take my one of my scripts."

"Well, as long as you eventually get a 'Yes' answer from someone, the amount of 'No's' you heard before don't matter," Devlin reasoned. They all nodded in agreement.

"And if I'm not mistaken," Devlin continued while nodding to Trina, "this is the actress playing one of the main characters in Jerry's upcoming play?"

"That's right," Trina answered, curious how he knew she was in a future play. "Wait," she asked, "didn't I see you at our practice?"

Devlin grinned at her realization before answering, "Yep. Jerry's my old roomie from college. We exchange ideas and occasionally critique each other's work. And from what I saw today, he definitely made a good choice picking you for a part."

Now Trina was the one blushing. "Thanks. I know you're mostly a playwright, but do you ever do any acting," she asked.

"Occasionally, but only small cameos in my own plays; I've got nothing against appearing in others' work, but I prefer having the control over what's happening," Devlin answered, "I guess I kinda consider myself an up-and-coming Jon Favreau."

That earned a laugh from all of them.

"So what's the price of pool tonight Dev?" Allen asked.

"Just the usual 75 cents a game Al," he answered, "By the way, you fellas are welcome to go ahead and set up to play, but I need to ask you only play 2-3 songs at the start and possibly close out at the end. You're good, but I think the other people who come in will want to sing some karaoke.

Justin shrugged at the request. "Sounds fair," he answered, with Allen and Sean nodding in agreement. "Sean lets set up everything while the others go ahead and secure a pool table for us."

"All right," Sean replied as the two headed to the stage. Trina couldn't help but notice Justin giving her a wink as her walked to set his guitar up. Again, she blushed at the gesture. She could tell by the identical smirks they were wearing that Kathleen and Nora saw the wink as well.

Once they got over to the billiard section, Allen was already racking up for a game. Once everything was set, he grabbed one of the cues from the stand and asked, "So…do we want to play teams or just singles right now?"

"Why don't we let Trina play a game against someone first," Kathleen suggested. "After all we've never seen her play?"

"Think you can handle it Trina?" Allen asked, sounding somewhat smug in his offer.

At first Trina was surprised at his slight overconfidence, but she decided to go along with it just to prove him wrong. She went over and picked a cue for herself before turning and saying, "Let's play."

"You break," Allen said.

Making her way to the other side of the table, Trina lined up the cue ball where she for the best chances and took her first shot which resulted in the 4 and the 7 ball sinking in different pockets.

Everyone present looked impressed at her first shot. "Pretty good start," Allen commented, "Have you played before?"

Trina shrugged. "Oh, maybe a few times," she answered before taking her next shot.

About 15 minutes (4 pool games) later, Justin and Sean joined their friends at the table. "So how've the games been going so far?" Sean asked.

"Well let's see," Allen started, "Trina won the first, and the second, then we played teams, me and Nora against her and Kathy, and they won the third and the fourth."

Justin and Sean exchanged looks before laughing. "I wish I could have seen that," Justin said.

"Well if you play watch out for her," Allen said nodding to Trina, "she's a shark."

Trina laughed at the comment as she finished chalking her cue. "My Uncle Juan had a pool table. He taught me how to play and every trick he knew when I was 8," she explained.

"And you didn't think to mention this before we started," Allen asked skeptically.

Everyone except him laughed this time. "Hey, technically she didn't hustle any of us like that Drake and Josh episode," Nora explained.

"True," her boyfriend admitted.

"As much as I hate to take away from this moment, I think our ragtag group is up to play," Justin said.

"You know, there is actually a simple name that you guys could go by if you wanted to be an official band," Trina offered.

Everyone looked at her curiously before Justin caught on. "We actually considered that for a while," he said, "but apparently Smash Mouth owns all rights to the name and/or title 'All Star' so we'd have to pay them so much every time we used it," causing Trina to grin.

As the guys got to the stage the girls took their seats to watch them play. Devlin gave them a brief introduction.

Trina didn't know what they intended to play, but their first song started out a bit slow before Justin started to sing.

_**Hey kids rock and roll,  
>Rock on, oh my soul<br>Hey kids boogey too, did ya**_

_**Hey shout, summertime blues,  
>Jump up and down in my blue suede shoes<br>Hey kids rock and roll, rock on**_

_**And where do we go from here?  
>Which is the way that's clear<strong>_

_**Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen  
>Prettiest girl I've ever seen<br>See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean  
><strong>_

After a brief guitar rift the music picked up and Sean and Allen joined in singing.

_**And where do we go from here?  
>Which is the way that's clear<strong>_

_**Still looking for that blue jean, baby queen  
>Prettiest girl I've ever seen<br>See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean**_

_**Rock on**_

_**Rock on**_

_**Hey kids rock and roll,**_

_**Rock on**_

_**Hey kid rock and roll,**_

_**Hey! Rock on**_

_**Hey! Rock on**_

_**Hey! Rock on**_

_**Hey! Rock on.**_

Once the song ended, everyone in the diner applauded them, especially Trina and the other girls. They were awesome playing together, but that wasn't surprising. Trina remembered hearing Justin playing solo two weeks ago so she was sure his two friends would be great at playing as well.

After their first song ended the trio only played two more as Devlin requested: "What Kind of Love Are You On" by Aerosmith and "Pardon Me" by Incubus. Both evoked the same response from the audience as their first song.

When they returned to their table, the girls were overjoyed after seeing their friends' performance.

"You guys were awesome," Trina told them, with Nora and Kathleen nodding in agreement.

"Thanks; it always feels good when all three of us get to play," Allen said.

"That it does," Justin added. "Now I think we'd better go ahead and order before this place gets too crowded…and it's all on me tonight," he finished earning a cheer from them all.

After they'd placed their orders and gotten their food, the group watched while other patrons got up to perform karaoke.

Trina was certainly enjoying herself. She'd won a few games of pool, she'd seen her friends "band" play, and now she was getting to sit back and take in other people's singing as well. No matter what people said, she enjoyed karaoke. Some people may consider it a chance to show off your skills, but she didn't think so. To Trina, it was just a fun thing to do and never care how good or silly you were.

Nora and Kathleen each got up to do a song. Nora sang a Celine Dion song while Kathy sang one by Katy Perry. They were just as great as Trina thought; she hoped that if she kept working with Julie she'd be that good.

Shortly after Kathleen finished the stage remained empty for a while. Whether it was because no one else wanted to sing or because other people present didn't think they could measure up to the previous act was unclear.

As Trina looked away from the stage and back to the others at the table with her, she noticed they were all looking at her expectantly. Confused, she simply said, "What?"

"Why don't you go give it a try?" Justin asked her.

Suddenly Trina felt a rush of uncertainty flow through her. "Uhh…that's okay. I think I'll just watch tonight," she quickly replied.

"Oh come on Trina, sing something," Kathleen pleaded.

Trina grinned at her friend's request, but still wasn't sure. "Look, I appreciate your encouragement, but I'm sure no one here would want to hear me sing."

Allen shrugged at her comment. "We would," he said with everyone nodding in agreement.

Their support was encouraging and Trina knew they meant well, but she still wasn't sure. It took hours of practicing with Justin to make her feel confident enough to audition last week…did she really feel that after just one singing practice with a talent agent she could sing in front of a crowd without getting booed.

Still trying to decide which option was better, Trina asked, "What if someone else here doesn't like it?"

"Who cares," Nora reasoned, "Just remember that you're out here celebrating with friends. Like we learned from the Bird Scene, all that matters is that you believe in your own talents and not care what others think."

'_She has a point,'_ Trina thought, recalling that she'd given Justin's sisters the same explanation just a few days ago. Recalling said encounter brought back everything Julie helped her with that night and a surge of confidence.

"Let me at it," she said.

"All right then," Justin said, stepping out of the booth so Trina could get out. Before she started to the stage though, she wanted one more look of assurance from Justin. When she caught his eye, she noticed he was smiling at her. His expression was practically saying, _'You got this.'_ When he took a step closer and leaned towards her, Trina thought he was going to say the words to her. Instead she felt him stop and briefly kiss her right cheek while whispering, "For luck."

For a second, Trina froze at the contact, but soon she turned and slowly began making her way to the stage in a daze, not because she was still nervous about singing, but because she was sure that everyone in the diner had just seen Justin's small act of affection. Until now, every time something similar had happened between them (hugging or when they kissed the other night) they were either alone or no one was paying attention to them. But now, she was certain that everyone was curious about what was going on between the two. _'At least I'm not the only one anymore,'_ Trina thought.

When she got to the stage she had to give her head a quick shake so she could focus on picking the right song. Easier said than done in her current state; she felt slightly feverish and she was sure her pulse was through the roof right now. _'Maybe it should be something that's a little fast paced or energetic,'_ she reasoned looking through the list of available songs.

After a brief search, Trina came across one that she recognized from the party at Kenan Thompson's house, where she got to meet the iCarly gang. It was played after they had all sang together; not for karaoke purposes, just something everyone could dance to. Trina wasn't sure she wanted to pick the particular song, so she looked up other tracks by the same artist and came across one with a title she liked: 'Starry Eyed.'

After she'd picked the song, she grabbed the mic and took a deep breath as she heard the music play. She could tell she'd have to be fast to keep up, but she'd give it her best. To ensure that she could remain focused, she found Justin and her friends and fixed her eyes on them. _'Sing to the people who care about you; they're all that matter right now,'_ she reminded herself before she started.

_**Oh, oh, starry eyed  
>Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit me with lightning<strong>_

The lights slightly dimmed in the rest of the diner dimmed some until only the stage lights were on, bringing all eyes to Trina. Not that it drew her attention away. She focused only her singing and the next lines._****_

_**Handle bars, and then I let go, let go for anyone  
>Take me in, and throw out my heart and get a new one<strong>_

Locking her eyes with Justin, Trina knew those lines fit her recent experiences. In a sort of symbolic way, she'd thrown away the heart that had been broken by years of insults and failed efforts in exchange for one that felt true comfort and love._****_

_**Next thing we're touching  
>You look at me it's like you hit me with lightning<br>Ahhh**_

With those words, Trina remembered everything that happened between the two of them: Justin finding her in the Blackbox two weeks ago, befriending her immediately and introducing her to his closest friends who welcomed her, the Premiere they went to, practicing for their play, meeting his family, and then kissing him Saturday night. With those thoughts, all her anxiety vanished and she sang out to the diner.

_**Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And everybody glows<br>Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And my body goes<br>Whoa oh oh ah ah  
>Whoa oh oh ah ah<br>Whoa oh oh**_

Try as she might, Trina couldn't help but look around at everyone else in the diner. To her surprise, no one looked disappointed or that they were in pain from her singing. They were cheering and clapping to the melody of the song. Surprised as she was at their reaction, Trina knew she had to stay focused on the song.

_**So we burst into colors, colors and carousels,  
>Fall head first like paper planes in playground games<strong>_

_**Next thing we're touching  
>You look at me it's like you hit me with lightning<br>Ahhhh**_

_**Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And everybody goes<br>Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And my body glows<br>Whoa oh oh ah ah  
>Whoa oh oh ah ah<br>Whoa oh oh**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Next thing we're touching**_

_**Hit me with lightning**_

_**Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And everybody glows<br>Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And my body goes<strong>_

_**Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And everybody glows<br>Oh, everybody's starry-eyed  
>And my body goes<strong>_

_**Whoa oh oh ah ah **_

_**Whoa oh oh ah ah**_

_**Whoa oh oh ah ah**_

As Trina finished and the lights came back up, she waited for a response from the audience; she didn't have to wait for long. Once she set the microphone back everyone applauded and cheered.

'_They actually liked it,'_ she thought, to herself. Trina truly was surprised. As she'd expected when they'd arrived, several customers were Hollywood Arts students; surely they were familiar with her past efforts. But judging by their reaction, it was almost as if none of that had ever existed.

Trina looked back over to her friends table. They were all clapping the loudest and were even giving her a standing ovation. Once she had gotten off the stage and got close enough, she threw herself into Justin's arms while at the same time wrapping her arms around him.

Trina just wanted to stay like this forever; feeling that she could just melt into his embrace. "You were amazing," Justin told her, further boosting her self-esteem. As Trina pulled back from Justin's shoulder, the two locked eyes once again…and just as they had two nights ago the leaned in and claimed each other's lips.

It started out as their previous kiss, but there was more passion and more emotion put into this kiss. There was some uncertainty at first as neither wanted to push the other too far; instead they just tried to echo the other's movements.

When the kiss ended, they remained in each other's arms, each focused on the other. Both of them realized what had just happened: they crossed a line. Kissing each other when no one else was around was one thing; sharing a deep, passionate kiss in front of friends and acquaintances was something entirely different. They weren't just friends anymore. They had moved beyond that to something far deeper and were unsure about how to proceed. Even though they were lost in thought, they were brought back to reality when they heard someone say, "And that dear friends is what true romance is all about."

Turning to face the other four All-Stars, Trina and Justin found each of them similar expressions on their faces. Based on his smirk, they knew right away it was Allen who they'd just heard speak. Nora wore a similar look, but was clearly trying to hold back her laughter as she hugged her boyfriend closer to her. As for Kathleen and Sean…well, Kathleen looked like she was about to burst with excitement and Sean just grinned like he wasn't surprised at all about what he'd just seen.

Turning back to each other, Justin and Trina stood in silence for another minute or two. Eventually, Justin broke the silence by asking, "This may seem like a stupid question, but I'm curious what exactly this means for us now?"

Trina blushed at the question. She knew what she wanted them to be, but she didn't want to push her luck too far in one night. In the end, the only thing she could think to say was, "What do you think we should be?"

Justin tilted quizzically to the side, almost as if he was carefully considering his options before answering. But Trina could tell by how quick he responded, that he'd knew what he wanted them to be. "Well I know I'd like to start a serious relationship with you, but I know that takes consensus from both of us."

Trina's heart leapt in her chest once she heard the words. _'Relationship'_; the word echoed in her head several times. Justin wanted a relationship with her. And Trina wanted one with him too. Not because of his fame, wealth, or status at school. She wanted the Justin Cisco that only a few people knew: the kind, smart, and generous guy who had an almost complete stranger overcome all her insecurities, establish herself in her professional settings…and stolen her heart.

After Trina had stayed frozen for a few moments, Justin gave her a look of concern before asking, "Was that too big a step for right now?"

Trina grinned at his confusion. "Actually," she answered before leaning in again. Taking the hint, Justin did the same and they kissed again. When the kiss ended, Trina said, "I'd like that too."

"So, then I guess the traditional roles in this case are you as the girlfriend and me as the boyfriend," Justin asked slightly comedic.

Trina laughed while shrugging. "Seems right, but do you think your reputation might suffer if we're together?" she asked.

Now Justin was the one to laugh. "Well first of all, the only reputation I care about is what I have with you and these four people over here," he said gesturing to other four present, "and second, I'm pretty sure it's the other way around."

"What do you mean?" Trina asked.

"Well I don't know if you've noticed, but a lot of people saw you audition and word's gotten around about how you should have gotten the lead. Plus I'm sure you surprised all the other students here tonight. So while I'm old news at school, you're becoming the next big thing there," Justin answered.

Just when Trina thought she couldn't be more surprised, she was. She knew that since she had actually earned an important role in a play at school, everyone would be in disbelief for a while, but was it really having this big an effect.

But to be honest, Trina couldn't care less about what anyone but the people present thought. Right now, she was where she wanted to be: with her closest friends and in the arms of (now) boyfriend.

"Well I guess we're together then," Trina said as she and Justin kissed once again as an official confirmation of their relationship.

**Well there it is; as I said at the beginning I'm sorry about the poor quality. I'm sorry to say that I eventually got tired of sweating this chapter so much and kinda rushed through to get it finished. I know some of the songs I picked are probably an odd choice. For the guys I just picked some random rock songs from my iPod, Nora and Kathleen I just picked two female singers, and I saw one song by the artist who sings Trina's song in another fiction so I looked up some of her songs in curiosity, and that one just stuck with me.**

**I'm going to work to possibly have the next chapter up no later than Thursday, but if I get enough feedback, it could be up a day or two earlier. I need opinions on some of my ideas.**

**First, Tori is going to be more important in the remaining chapters. In fact, starting with the next one, the chapters are going to switch back and forth between focusing on her and Trina (the next chapter is going to be from Tori's perspective). Like I said, I have the next chapter already started, but I'm concerned that I'm making Tori seem too emotional/dependent on Trina. If that's what you'd want to see or not, please let me know in a review.**

**Second, I'm glad a lot of you liked David and Holly get theirs in the previous chapter; it was one of my favorite parts too. So what I need to know from you now is if you want them to remain clueless about their neglect or to actually feel remorseful and want to be better parents.**

**Third, one part of my next chapter takes a MUCH deeper look and reinterpretation at some of the characters and moments in the Victorious universe. While it is accurate for the most part, I'm thinking it might end up showing Trina in a too favorable light. If you want me to avoid that I'll try, but I can't make any promises. If there is a specific event you want to see in a different light, ask and I'll work at it.**

**Anyways, I apologize again for the lateness and hope that I haven't lost any readers or reviewers.**


	15. Not So Innocent

**As always, I apologize that this is later than I promised. My wireless router needed to be replaced and I didn't have the money to buy a new one until yesterday. This chapter was kinda tough; there are some parts I like and some that I don't (I think you may not agree with some of it). So as always I have mixed feelings. Please read and review once you get done.**

**P.S. There are a few comments I have at the end of this chapter that explain some elements of the story as well as future plans. Please read and include in a review if you could.**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Victorious**

By 11:00, night had fallen in Los Angeles. Up and down Schneider Street, it was quiet as residents were turning in. The silence was slightly broken as one resident pulled into his driveway. Mr. Busey stepped out of his car, mumbling angrily as he walked to his front door. Along the way, he was so caught up in complaining to himself about how bad traffic had been that he didn't notice any of his surroundings, any noises…and he most certainly didn't notice the teenage girl looking out her window at the Vega home.

Groaning in frustration, Tori Vega moved away from her window and sat down on her bed. _'It's not her,'_ she told herself. Every time she heard a car coming close to her house, every time she saw a flash of lights shine through her window, even every few minutes, Tori rushed to her window to see who it was. And so far, every time she'd been met with disappointment because none of them were her sister.

After Trina left earlier, she and her friends had sat in silence for a few minutes. It was clear they'd all been shocked to find out that Trina had heard them insulting her at school two weeks ago. It was also clear from Trina's outburst, that they were all finally realizing the possible effects such words could have on someone. By the way the rest of the night progressed, Tori could tell each of them were thinking about what had happened shortly after they arrived and felt guilty about their past comments.

In the end, her friends didn't stay very long. Their poker games were very drawn out, often resulting in most of them folding or unknowingly making higher wagers; obviously none of them could focus. Even Jade seemed to be slightly off. The Goth actress kept up her usual ruthless card playing, but she didn't follow up with any of her usual snarky comments to her friends.

Eventually, Beck simply said that he didn't feel like playing cards anymore. Everyone else agreed and they started to put everything away. While the young students had been at their game, Tori's parents had just remained in the kitchen. Holly and David remained frozen at the counter for a few minutes after their oldest daughter left the house. After a while though, the couple wordlessly started cleaning up some in the kitchen.

Just as Tori's friends were about to leave though, Robbie nudged Beck and Andre before whispering something to them. After, the trio admitted to David the truth about what had happened the night the three of them were over. From what Tori was hearing, Trina had been telling others that Beck had asked her out to try and gain attention from other boys. So to teach her a lesson, Beck and his two close friends pulled a joke on her to teach her a lesson by all of them pretending to like her.

Of course, the way it ended was Trina bringing David in to break up the fake fight they were having which resulted in her being embarrassed in front of him and her dad implying that he wanted her to go far away when she went to college. His only response to their confession was, "It's okay boys, just…have a good night." Tori could tell that her dad was wrestling with his emotions. Though whether he was angrier at Beck, Andre, and Robbie for tricking him or for allowing himself to be so easily tricked she couldn't tell.

Once her friends were gone Tori couldn't think of what else to do so she told her parents good night. After they said the same back to her, she made her way up the stairs to her room. As she went she noticed that her parents' attention was elsewhere. She'd be lying if she said hers wasn't directed at the same thing.

For the next few hours, Tori replayed the scene from earlier over and over in her head to better analyze what had happened.

When Trina first said that she was going out with her new friends instead of Tori and the others, Tori thought her sister was just doing it because she wanted to hang out with the most popular students at Hollywood Arts. But that wasn't the real reason. The truth was that her sister had overheard Tori and the gang insulting her two weeks ago. That, plus all the times they'd publicly demeaned her and didn't want her around finally resulted in Trina not wanting to be around them anymore.

Looking back, Tori honestly couldn't think of a reason why she said anything negative about her sister then. That particular Monday had gone as they normally did; yes that was when Trina was taking forever in the bathroom, but Tori had gotten used to that. The only argument they'd had was about whether they'd had time to stop at Starbucks or not. So why had Tori called her sister such things…the only explanation she could think of was that her friends had said it so she joined in. She hadn't thought of that day since, but now that she knew that Trina had overheard and was deeply hurt by the comments, Tori worried about what could happen next.

Tori had tried reasoning out two possible explanations. The first was that Trina didn't mean what she said. _'It was said in the spur of the moment; an emotional outburst,'_ Tori told herself. Trina wasn't serious about never being around anyone who had been present. Even if she did avoid Andre, the others, and their parents, Trina wouldn't abandon Tori. They were sisters. They looked out for each other and tried to be there if the other needed it. Sure they had their differences and arguments but they made up and moved on…right? As much as Tori wished that were still true, it wasn't anymore.

Before Trina started at Hollywood Arts, she and Tori were almost inseparable. They would hang out with each other's friends, go with one of their parents to wherever they were at the time (going to aerobics with their mom or watch their dad at the station), or just sit at home with no one but each other for company and watch movies together. After though, Trina started to withdraw more and more from Tori to go to auditions or spend time with new people she'd met. Even though her parents tried to explain to her that it was just because Trina was getting older, Tori missed having the one person who she'd always counted on.

When Tori started at Hollywood Arts, she thought that it would give her and Trina something in common again and they would get to spend more time with each other. But as before, Trina still had practices that she had to attend, just as Tori did now. Fortunately for Tori, she'd met Andre and the rest of her friends shortly after she started and found herself better able to cope with the transition. After that, she didn't feel that she needed Trina around as much; probably because she thought Trina had similar people to rely on or maybe just because she didn't want her sister around. Whatever the reason, Tori knew the bond she and her sister once shared wasn't what it used to be and Trina could just as easily turn her back on Tori as she had done before and as Tori had recently done.

Then she tried to convince herself that no matter how Trina felt, she couldn't deny that everything Tori and the others said were true and she'd deserved it. They'd all witnessed several acts of Trina's selfishness, overconfidence, and failed efforts at auditioning; whether it was her insisting on having a whole week to celebrate her birthday, making Tori her slave because of some deal they made when they were younger, inviting herself when she wasn't wanted, or embarrassing them in front of directors or producers. Heck, the only reason that Trina was still at Hollywood Arts was because they set up a situation for her to "save" Helen and get to stay. But Tori silently cursed herself for thinking such thoughts.

Even after all the times she'd been hurt by Jade, Tori realized she was a hypocrite for doing the same thing to Trina. Yes, she knew some of the things her sister did made it difficult to be around her, but Trina was still human; she had feelings and she deserved a chance to be recognized and feel good about herself just as they all did. But almost no one was willing to give her that chance; instead of anyone trying to talk to and understand Trina, everyone chose to put up with her antics so they could shun or insult her behind her back. For a moment, Tori wondered if the underlying reason for Trina's behavior was because it was the only way for her to get some form of attention.

And, as much as Tori hated to admit it, she and her friends weren't as innocent as they'd like to think. Several of the things that they had done were just as bad, if not worse, than Trina's actions.

Tori remembered everything that Jade had done to their friends: she'd been so possessive of Beck when they dated that she'd never allowed him to have any friends who were girls, she humiliated Robbie and Andre several times by making them Hammer Dance around school, and she repeatedly threatened Cat, her supposed best friend. And for the longest time, Jade had gone out of her way to hurt and sabotage Tori's efforts at school: pouring coffee over her head on her first day, faking injuries to hurt Tori's grade, trying to steal the role of Steamboat Suzy, ruining Prome, and accepting the Platinum Music Awards offer just to spite Tori; not to mention that Judy Garland accent she claimed Tori spoke with. Even though they were friends now, Jade her left an unfavorable impression on Tori that would take a while to completely forget.

Then of course Robbie was constantly making wisecracks about everyone and every situation they found themselves in. True, he claimed it was Rex speaking, but seriously? No matter what Robbie said, practically everyone at Hollywood Arts considered the puppet just a means for Robbie to try and say whatever he wanted and get away with it, even if it got him in trouble sometimes. He was even willing to exploit his friends' personal lives on his blog if it meant that he could be more popular with the seniors.

While no one would think that cool, suave, generous Beck Oliver was capable of being narcissistic, his friends might say otherwise. First of all, he made his parents buy him a trailer, just so that he could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Everyone had thought that this had made him the height of cool at Hollywood Arts and he played on their assumptions, but he never told them about the strings attached to it. He still had to keep it clean like his parents wanted, perform chores around the inside of their house, and could only have friends over when they okay'd it.

Second, even though he was handsome, Tori was still surprised when she caught a ride with him and found so many girls there as well. She thought they were just trying to win him over after he broke up with Jade, but she found out that he'd been driving with them in his car even before the break up…with Jade present as well. Tori thought at first it was just generosity, but now she wondered if he did it just to bask in their praise.

Cat had left them all at the point of heat stroke in Beck's RV to hang out with random cute guys she'd just met and also exploited Sinjin's desire for a girlfriend just to get money out of him when she was addicted to SkyStore. Even Andre had his selfish, overconfident moments. Before Christmas break, he'd been so sure he'd get a good grade on his Christmas song that he'd turned it in only one day after it was assigned; and then he acted surprised that he got a D. Even after his teacher had told him that he could work on it and resubmit it to still get full credit, all Andre did was pout and complain. Instead of taking the instructor's comments about the song, Andre had just thought that he was too good to need to fix anything and blamed the teacher's grading system. In the end, it had taken Tori, Jade, and Cat's performance to fix his grade. Then, even though he put up with her abusive ways, Andre dated Hope Quincy with the intent to dump her once he got to perform for her music producer father.

With a loud sigh, Tori got up off her bed and started towards the kitchen. She needed something to drink…or at least find something else to occupy her mind.

Once she got to the fridge, Tori looked for something to drink. While she thought that soda would help her stay awake until Trina got home, she didn't feel like having anything carbonated. In the end, she just picked juice.

After she poured a glass, she looked around her living room and unfortunately began to ruminate all over again. But this time, she was thinking of her own actions instead of her friends.

Tori knew what everyone thought of her: sweet, talented, helpful, innocent Tori Vega. She'd been helped on several occasions by her friends since she'd been accepted into Hollywood Arts so naturally she'd tried to do the same in return.

But…she couldn't deny that half of the time, she'd been the direct cause of the problem and was guilty of several of selfish acts herself: she'd nearly cost Beck his role in a movie by correcting Melinda Murray, blackmailed her friends to let her join the Ping Pong team, kissed her ex-boyfriend Danny when he was dating Cat, forced Andre to miss his great-grandfather's (possibly last) birthday to help get revenge on Ryder Daniels, got Jade's play cancelled so she could throw a prom, abandoned Robbie at Nozu's…and more. She knew her friends had looked past that, but she had still proved that their assumptions about her were false.

Her friends might have forgiven her, but Tori had never once wondered whether or not her sister had done the same. Even though Trina had acted lazy and selfish around Tori by always making her answer the door or occasionally tried to steal her dates, Tori had been just as devious and even worse on occasion. Whereas Trina was willing to admit Tori had "some" talent, Tori never acknowledged Trina had any; she never missed a chance to get away from Trina; and she just let people say whatever they wanted to about Trina and even agreed with them. She'd even used Trina in efforts to win favor with her friends: she set her up with that doctor's son to take care of Rex and then exploited her sister's desire to be a star to keep that crazy Mrs. Lee occupied so she couldn't force Jade to include her daughter in her play. Both times, Tori got all the recognition from her friends and none of them showed Trina any more favor.

All of the times that Jade said that no one liked Trina, did Tori say anything? Did Tori ever stick up for Trina, tell Jade to not be so mean, or at least console her sister later and say even if she didn't like her sometimes she still loved her. No. Tori just stayed silent in the background, her own subtle way of distancing herself from her sister.

Of course now, however, all of the assumptions about Trina were proven false. Whereas Tori and her friends never wanted Trina around because they considered her annoying and an embarrassment, she'd been accepted by almost complete strangers. It was true that the All-Stars never directly turned anyone away, but everyone else at school was too intimated to talk to them. Whether Trina had felt that way at first or not Tori didn't know; all that she knew was that they had accepted Trina and she was happy around them.

And as for Trina being talentless…well they were once again proven wrong. Trina may not have gotten an important role in some time and not gotten to perform at the Platinum Music Awards, but she'd come back from those failures and managed to impress an actual Hollywood director. Even if she hadn't gotten the role she wanted, she'd shocked the whole school by delivering such a dramatic performance, barely missed out on the lead, but still earned one of the three top parts.

'_When was the last time you even made an effort to see Trina in something that you weren't a part of?'_ Tori's conscience asked her. Unable to remember anything besides when Trina couldn't sing in the big Showcase and she was offered her place at Hollywood Arts, Tori slumped back against the refrigerator in despair before she left her half empty glass and started back to her room.

'_So what do I do now?'_ Tori asked herself. She honestly didn't know. Even if she could somehow catch Trina and hold her long enough to talk, would she listen? Tori didn't know.

Maybe their parents had an idea. They were there when Trina had said everything earlier; they finally had a better idea about how their oldest daughter was feeling about her life. And parents were supposed to try and make sure their children were happy. So maybe they could convince Trina to give the others a chance to talk with her and apologize. Then again, Trina had pointed out their neglectful acts towards her during her exasperation earlier.

Before she made it to her room, Tori looked over to see that the light in her parents' room was still on and she could hear voices beyond the door. Now she was confused; Tori thought she'd heard her parents come up the step and head to their room shortly after she had earlier. Neither of her parents ever stayed up very late; David needed at least 6-8 hours of sleep as he never knew how long he'd be on duty and Holly was more of a morning person than a night. It made no sense that they'd still be awake. Curious at what they could be saying, Tori crept over to their door to listen to what they were saying.

"David, I don't know what you're so upset about," Tori heard her mom say.

With a sigh, Tori heard her dad answer, "How 'bout the fact that we've screwed up?"

"Is this still about what Trina said?" Holly asked. "It'll pass, just like it always does and everything will be back to normal."

"Don't you get it Holly?" her dad replied sounding frustrated, "Our oldest daughter's upset and instead of trying to help her we've only made it worse."

"We've done everything we could: we bought her whatever she wanted, put up with her bratty behavior, and let her stay at Hollywood Arts when there was a likelihood she didn't even belong there," Holly said.

Tori gasped at her mother's statement: _'Didn't even belong there.'_ How could the woman be so harsh? Even though Tori had held the same belief for so long, and regretted it now, Tori knew that wasn't true anymore. First, even though she hadn't seen it, Tori had heard Justin Cisco defend and compliment Trina's entrance audition, so she knew her sister had earned her place when she first got accepted at Hollywood Arts. Second, so what if there was a period when Trina wasn't getting the opportunities other students were. Even when it seemed everything wasn't against her, Trina hadn't quit and become a "shrugger," randomly getting picked for a role as an extra. The girl still found the strength to ignore whatever people were saying and try again.

"So that's justification for everything we have ever and will ever do," Tori heard her dad say as she heard the bed springs in the room squeak. "That excuses our not going to any plays she's been in for years, it excuses us going out of town to not take care of her when she had her wisdom teeth out, and for telling Tori to abandon her in a foreign country where God only knows what could happen to her? Yeah that's good parenting."

Tori's heart sank at David's words. She knew that she and Trina's parental situation was better than some of her friends, like Andre living with his grandma because his parents were in the Air Force, or Jade's emotionless dad, but her dad spoke the truth. The Vega parents were always busy with something and constantly left their daughters alone to fend for themselves or just avoided them whenever things started getting out of hand.

"God, I can't believe I let those guys trick me that night," Tori's dad said sadly. "I pretty much told one of the two most important things in our life to go as far away from home as she could in a few months because I believed three guys I barely know over her."

"David," Tori heard her mom trying to comfort her dad.

"Now whenever I'm asking her to come home over the phone and she says no, I know I'm the one to blame," her dad finished.

Tori pulled away and went back to her room; she'd heard enough. Although they hadn't directly said it, she could tell that her parents didn't know what to do. Her dad seemed to be pretty distraught about the situation which was a step up for him. Her mom on the other hand seemed to be oblivious to the situation and wasn't likely to work for a solution.

Back in her room, Tori looked outside her window to see if anything had changed. Once again, there was no sign of her sister's car in sight.

Groaning, Tori sat down on her bed again. As she continued to wait for Trina to arrive, Tori kept thinking of what would happen when her sister got home, and what she could possibly do to earn Trina's forgiveness.

_(Eight hours later)_

As the sun rose that Tuesday morning, it crept through the blinds of Tori Vega's window. While most of the rays were shining on her walls, the others were reflected back into the teenager's face. This caused the girl to stir in her sleep some before finally waking her up. Sitting up in her bed, Tori stretched her arms while yawning loudly. Looking down, she noticed that instead of being under the covers, she was tangled up in the comforter.

'_That's weird,'_ she thought, _'I don't remember falling asleep on top of my bed last night. Then again, I don't even remember falling asle-,'_ she stopped. She'd fallen asleep while waiting for Trina to get home.

Tori jumped out of bed to check outside. Trina's car was there. She was home. The second she saw the car, Tori ran from her room and straight to her sister's. "Trina! I wanted to say I'm so-," Tori started, but she stopped once she took a look around the room.

Trina wasn't in her room. In fact, her room looked in pristine shape: the bed was made; there were no clothes on the floor; there was almost no sign that anyone had been there all night. Tori turned around to see if Trina was finishing getting ready for school. When Tori got to the bathroom, she could tell that even though it was empty, Trina had been there a short while ago. The mirror was becoming less fogged up from steam and Tori caught a faint whiff of Trina's perfume. Tori knew that she'd seen her sister's car outside just a minute ago, so that had to mean Trina was still home.

Despite the short amount of time Tori had to go ready for school, she decided to head downstairs to find her sister. When she got halfway down the stairs, she stopped at the landing to scan the living room and kitchen. Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast while her father was in his uniform, filling his thermos with coffee for the day, but there was no sign of Trina; Tori and her parents were the only three people in the house.

"Mom? Dad? Where's Trina? We're gonna be late if we don't leave in a few minutes," Tori asked, knowing how stupid the question sounded since she was still in her pajamas.

Her dad turned to face her before saying, "Your sister's already left Tori."

Tori's eyes widened at her dad's answer before coming down the rest of the stairs. Trina had already gone? Trina's car was still in the driveway; how could she have already left?

"How could she have already left? I checked outside a minute ago and her car was still in the driveway."

"She didn't drive this morning; she caught a ride with one of her friends. She was practically out the door once your mom and I came downstairs," her dad replied. "She left the keys to her car on the coffee table for you to get to school."

Tori turned to look around the living room. Sure enough, the keys to Trina's Pontiac were on the table at the center of the room.

"Well did she say why she was in such a rush?" Tori asked. "Did she have a test to finish or a meeting with a teacher?"

"We don't know," her mother chimed in with. "All she said was, and I quote, 'Going to school, keys for my car are on the table for Tori, bye." When she finished, Holly took a better look at her youngest daughter. "Tori, shouldn't you be getting ready for school? You never know what traffic could be like."

"Oh yeah; better do that," Tori responded.

How was her mother so calm about the situation? Tori remembered last night, when she'd heard her mother's carefree suggestion. Was the woman honestly that oblivious to her daughters' needs? Tori didn't know, so she just turned around to try and hurry to get to school on time.

As she finished getting dressed and packing her books for the day, Tori wondered why Trina left so early and why she didn't just take her car. Even though it wasn't a frequent occurrence, Trina had left without Tori before.

'_Maybe she had to meet with her director this morning or get help with an assignment,'_ Tori reasoned. Yeah, that made sense. Because they were often directing plays or helping with after school clubs, most of the teachers at Hollywood Arts were only able to meet with students before classes started. And Trina wasn't acting as carless lately, so she'd asked one of her friends to drive her to school instead of making Tori get up early or leaving without her. That had to be why.

But even as Tori made left her room, even as she walked out of her house and started up Trina's car, even as she repeatedly told herself that she'd though of the best reason as to why Trina left so early, Tori couldn't shake the thought that the real reason was Trina didn't want to be around her sister even for the short drive to school.

_(At Hollywood Arts)_

When Tori first arrived at school, she took a quick scan of the parking lot. Not surprisingly, Trina wasn't there. So Tori walked into school alone.

While Tori checked her locker for anything else she'd need for her first classes, she looked over to Trina's locker, but again didn't see her sister.

Tori sighed as she realized she was running out of places to look. She was sure that her Trina had to be here somewhere. For one, she'd told her parents she was leaving for school with a friend. Trina had never missed a day at Hollywood Arts; even when she was sick, she still pulled herself together enough to make it through the day so there was no way the girl was skipping. Plus, Tori was sure she knew which of Trina's friends drove her, so she knew he had to be at school as well.

Closing her locker, Tori turned around to see her friends coming towards her. She quickly composed herself and forced a smile when they got over to her, but she could tell that they were all in a somber mood. "Hey guys; how's it going?" she asked.

None of them answered at first. Tori could tell they were all considering how to answer. Eventually, Andre just shrugged and said, "T's all good. How're you this morning?"

"Oh…I'm good," she lied, "Thanks for asking."

There was an awkward, extended silence that followed Tori's answer. They all just stood around her locker looking back and forth at each other. Tori could tell what they were all thinking; none of them wanted to voice it though.

"So," Beck asked, "did you get to talk to Trina after we left last night?" The actor's question caused all of Tori's friends to turn to her and wait for her to answer.

"No," Tori replied looking down, "I tried staying up late so I could catch her when she got home, but I fell asleep before she did. By the time I woke up this morning, she'd already gotten ready and had one of her friends pick her up for school."

"Why are you all making such a big deal out of this?" Jade asked.

All of their friends turned to look at Jade in surprise.

"Were you not there last night? Do you not care at all how hurt she probably was by what we all said?" Andre asked.

"Oh come on," Jade said, "We've insulted her several times in the past and she's gotten over it by the next day. So we went a little far this time. Look what's happened: she finally has friends that aren't us and we never have to worry about her again."

"I have a question," Beck interrupted his ex," If you don't care at all about Trina and are completely satisfied with her actively avoiding us, then why didn't' you give your usual 'slam your tongue in a car door' response when you found out Tori wanted her to play cards with us last night?"

Jade glared at Beck and started to respond, but stopped herself. Everyone around thought she was trying to consider her reply, but when she didn't and just gritted her teeth, they realized she couldn't think of what to say.

Andre turned back to face Tori. "You think there's anything we could do?"

Tori just shook her head, "No; thanks but don't worry about it. You guys don't have to do anything," she said.

Cat walked closer to her friend before saying, "What do you mean?"

Tori just sighed before eyeing her friends. "Look," she said, "I appreciate the gesture, but you guys don't need to be concerned. I know none of you ever liked or cared for Trina; you just tolerated her for my sake. If what she said last night hurt your feelings then I'm sorry. But…I need to do this on my own.

Her friends all looked at the floor when she finished. Tori wasn't sure, but she thought that her friends were hurt by what she said.

After a moment, Beck looked up. "Look, we know Trina hasn't exactly been too pleasant to be around and we said and did a lot of things we probably shouldn't have, but we never wanted her to just completely disappear."

Tori looked at Beck. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," Andre answered, "Even though Trina acted selfish and annoying, none of us ever handled any of the situations too well."

"He's right," Robbie added, "Just last night Rex was saying he almost regretted cutting Trina's gimbal at that play you directed Tori." The boy seemed to regret his statement when all of his friends turned to face him with shocked expressions.

"What did you just say!" Tori asked.

While they waited for a response, Robbie stuttered at first before he turned to Rex. "Man, you said you told them months ago!"

"I said I thought about telling them," the puppet told his owner.

"You purposefully sabotaged equipment to hurt Trina!" Tori exclaimed.

"You put her in the hospital for four days!" Andre said.

"Did you even think about what could happen before you did that?" Beck said.

"You destroyed that nice Ranch House set!" Cat cried, earning confused looks from her friends before they turned back to Robbie.

"Oh like any of you gave any care at all," Rex defended, "Ya'll were so desperate to get out of Lane's office you just accepted whatever explanation absolved you of any guilt." Nodding to Jade he asked, "How many views did that video you found so funny end up getting?"

"Oh, I forgot all about that," Jade smirked. She pulled her phone out to check, but quickly put it back when she earned a glare from Beck.

"And you," Rex nodded to Andre, "Seen that pretty Keeko girl you sprinted away to see lately?"

Andre backed down after that; obviously he remembered how the rest of that day as well as Tori did. Once they were out of Lane's office they all did go check on Trina…but only after they'd spent 2 hours at B.F. Wangs with Andre and Keeko. By the time they got to the hospital, there was only 10 minutes of visiting hours left. Trina was discharged a few days later with a sprained ankle and a few bruised ribs. She wasn't seriously hurt, but it meant she wasn't able to compete in a karate tournament she'd been looking forward to the following Saturday. The memory of those events proved Tori wrong when she had earlier thought that she couldn't feel any worse.

"So," Andre asked, snapping everyone back to the present, "what can we do?"

"Why don't we just get Beck to take Trina on a date?" Rex asked.

"Okay that just earned you a timeout mister," Robbie said as he stuffed the puppet in his backpack.

"I don't think that would work," Cat said.

"Yeah," Andre replied, "she seemed pretty upset when we pranked her that night and I don't think she'd-."

"No, I just don't think she'd give up her boyfriend for Beck," Cat interrupted.

Beck looked hurt by the redhead's statement. "Excuse me; are you trying to say that I don't measure up t-," he started, but stopped once he realized what Cat had just said.

"BOYFRIEND?" the group asked wild-eyed.

"Yeah," Cat said calmly, "Didn't you guys see her status update on TheSlap?"

Realizing that none of them checked the site this morning, they all whipped out their phones to check and got one of the biggest shocks of their life.

Tori couldn't believe what she was reading. There on TheSlap, with dozens of comments, was the phrase "Trina Vega in a Relationship with Justin Cisco."

It was official. Now everyone would know that Trina Vega was no longer some egocentric, self-absorbed, talentless nobody; she was gaining notoriety for her role in the upcoming play, she was nicer, and now she had an amazing, famous boyfriend.

"Well I guess there really is nothing we can do," Tori said.

"Nothing the five of us can probably do, you mean," Andre corrected her.

Tori was confused. Looking back at her friends, she asked, "What do you mean 'the five of us'?"

Andre put his hand on her shoulder before explaining, "Look, we feel sorry for what we've said, but Trina made it clear that she didn't want anything to do with us. Since we have no classes with her and she could stay out of your house whenever we're there, it's gonna be easy for her to avoid us. But you're her sister; she can't do the same to you."

Tori gave them all a skeptical look. "You do know she was talking to me and our parents as much as you guys right?"

"Yeah, but still," Beck answered, "you guys are family. I'm sure that since she's gotten that off her chest she feels better and would be willing to listen to anything you have to say."

Tori wanted to think that was true; even though she'd had the same idea earlier and wasn't able to convince herself, hearing Beck think the same thing did boost her confidence some.

"I don't know-," Tori started.

"Have you at least tried calling or texting your sister, Vega?" Jade asked. When Tori shook her head no, Jade continued, "Well now's as good a time as ever."

Tori still had her phone in her hand. As she looked down at it, she still felt some uncertainty. She wanted to believe that if tried to getting ahold of Trina then she'd answer, but would she?

Looking at her friends, Tori saw they were all giving her encouraging looks. With them around her, she felt a boost of confidence as she unlocked her phone. She knew better than to try calling her. If she did, Trina could just not answer it or ignore it. Instead she decided she'd try a text; even if Trina didn't read the entire thing, she'd at least see some of the content and might give Tori a chance.

As she started her text, Tori tried to make it as apologetic and sincere as she could. She knew it would take some time, but she was willing to do what she could to earn Trina's forgiveness. Like her friends said, they were sisters. Yeah, they were sis-

'_Trina, stop embarrassing me or I'm gonna embarrass you!'_

As Tori's mind flashed with the memory, her hands stopped moving across her phone.

She remembered that day: when they'd all agree to help that lazy Dale Squires make a new film. To keep her sister away from everything, Tori first tried locking her in the bathroom and when that didn't work, she'd revealed Trina's most humiliating secret in front of everyone who was there.

Her friends couldn't see it, but that one incident caused several others to flood Tori's mind: running off with Jade and Cat when Trina was in serious pain from having her wisdom teeth removed, sarcastically asking her friends if they wanted Trina in the parade with them when she knew they'd all say no, laughing when Trina got thrown out of Nozu's when Tori claimed she didn't know her, etc.

'_You were sisters during all that too,'_ her conscience reminded her again.

As Tori waged an internal battle, she heard a trio of laughing coming near her. A second later she looked up towards the source of the noise. There was Trina at her locker with Kathleen and Nora, two of her new (actual) friends.

Although Tori only had a side view of her sister, she could see that Trina was happy; in fact, she looked happier than Tori had seen her in a long time. The only other time that came close was when she got home Saturday night.

If it was possible, Trina's face lit up even more when Justin and the rest of the All-Stars walked up. The second he got there, the girl threw her arms around his neck and he did the same around her waist. And, ignoring all rules about public displays of affection the school had, the pair kissed in front of their other friends.

Even though she'd read TheSlap update, Tori couldn't believe that Justin Cisco, a guy with several Hollywood roles and cameos already earned was kissing her sister and judging by their matching smiles when they pulled back, they both enjoyed it. After that Trina grabbed one last book from her locker before shutting it and walking with her boyfriend to their class.

When Andre and the others looked back at Tori, they saw the girl was frozen at the scene she'd just witnessed. It wasn't the fact that Trina had a boyfriend or even the fact of who it was; it was a truth that was dawning on Tori. Everything that had happened in Trina's life recently; all of her achievements and happiness were of her effort and practicing…and none of it had to do with Tori, her friends, or their family. Trina had been doing better the second she started distancing herself from all of them.

"Tori," Cat said, snapping the girl out of her trance.

Tori simply looked back down at her phone and with a heavy sigh she dropped it back in purse.

"Let's get to class," Tori said to her friends' surprise. They weren't sure what to make of her inaction, but when she started off to their first class, they all went their own way.

As she walked to first period, Tori wasn't sure if she'd made the right decision a moment ago, but was there really anything she could do? Her sister was happy with the new life she had and she had no reason to give any of that up. As much as it hurt Tori, she knew she'd have to try and live her life without Trina…just as Trina was doing without Tori right now.

**And that's all I wrote. Like I said, there are some parts I like and some I don't. I probably overdid it on Tori's guilt trip; I tried to compensate by discussing some of Trina's negative moments from the show but probably didn't do enough. **

**Also, I know some of you may think it's strange that I made David the remorseful one in this, but it was actually easier than making Holly feel sorry. Even though David's been the one to actually vocalize his dislike of Trina, he always reminds his daughters to let their dates know he's a cop so he cares about their safety. Plus in this chapter he finds out the guys tricked him in Car, Rain, and Fire so that probably would bring up some different emotions. Holly on the other hand, happily eats lavish breakfasts in front of Tori and Trina while they have nothing and then hinted at a possible affair with her husband's partner without a care about what anyone would think. So that's my reasoning. Either way, it's not easy to do something with either parent given their limited screen time so I guess I made David somewhat like George Lopez on his show. If you want Holly to start feeling remorse, include it in a review. The next chapter will take place during the Crazy Ponnie episode I have an idea about how to work that in. Plus there will be a twist and I don't know how you all might like that.**

**Anyway future points to make:**

**Since I'm not very good at making specific days as deadlines, I'm just going to say I'll have a new update every week.**

**I have ideas about how to continue the story and conclude it (still probably five/more chapters away from that with a potential epilogue or two), but it's difficult coming up with some filling material so if you have any suggestions please feel free to make them in a review or PM.**

**While I was working on this the other day, I got the idea for another Trina-centric fiction that will most likely be an angst story (I know you're probably asking yourselves 'Is that all this guy can write') Unlike this story where several elements of the show are re-interpreted, my new keeps the show's plot and starts/deals with immediately after Trina graduates, so it's obviously going to be mostly imaginative. I'm not sure yet, but I may consider collaborating with someone on this. If you would like to hear my idea or consider working together, please PM me so I can get your feedback and see if it could work out.**

**Hope this chapter was okay**


	16. Persistance Has it's Rewards

**Next chapter. I am so sorry it's been so long. Like I told one of you already, I've had to do a lot of research with one of my professors for an experiment that's going to start once the semester begins. Even after I got that done, my boss took advantage of me turning in my notice and scheduled me as often as they could while at the same time ensuring I'd never get overtime. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I wish it was better.**

**Disclaimer:**** Don't own Victorious**

"Pppphhhhhhht, ugh" went Trina Vega as she blew her nose for what was possibly the fiftieth time in the last few days. _'Being sick sucks,' _she thought. After she'd thrown away her most recently used tissue, she splashed some water on her face to try and cool down some. When she looked back in the mirror, she started to reapply her makeup, but stopped for a moment to ponder the past week's events.

Trina smiled as she remembered last Tuesday. She'd asked Justin to start picking her up so that Tori could drive herself to school (and so Trina could keep her word about not being around her or her friends). Trina had thought Justin might think it strange, but to her surprise he didn't mind. He seemed glad to pick up his new girlfriend so they could ride to school together, make a quick Starbucks run, or just have some more time to talk to each other before the school day started. That day, when they first revealed their relationship, when everyone at Hollywood Arts found out Trina Vega and Justin Cisco were official, was definitely a highlight in Trina's life.

She smirked at the memory of the hundreds of comments she got on TheSlap; most claimed they didn't believe it, some users even went so far as accusing Trina of lying. She didn't care though. That moment in the hallway before class, when Trina and Justin kissed with so many people surrounding them had shut them all up. Trina could tell by Justin's matching smile, he was just as satisfied as she was. Not just with their relationship, but at the surprise it caused their fellow students.

The rest of the week had gone smoothly for the couple. Their classes went the same as they always did, but to Trina they seemed more pleasant every time she and Justin exchanged looks during them. Hanging around with the other All Stars was great too. They made it clear that they had considered Trina a member of their group since they had all met, but now that there were three couples in the group…well they just felt even more complete. Once they had finished with school and play rehearsals the three couples would meet up to hang out.

Besides hanging out with her new friends, Trina had met with Justin's mother twice in the past week to keep practicing her singing. Trina was improving, but she knew she still didn't have any rights to brag. Even when she wasn't in the Cisco's recording studio, Trina kept up the techniques Julie was teaching her that would help her. The woman willingness to help Trina knew no bounds, so Trina was willing to take her advice and give her best efforts.

Rehearsals were going well too. Even before they were picked for their respective roles, Trina and Justin had the play memorized. Plus, they still had their individuals practice sessions with one another before, during, and after practices; they would even take different parts so that they could ensure they had the right mindset and emotions necessary when their character interacted with the specific person.

The only downside to the rehearsal sessions were Lindsay's approach and attitude whenever she arrived or was onstage. She had arrived late to half of the rehearsals, she was constantly interrupting them to take calls on her cell, trying to act out more so that the audience would be drawn to her more, and even wanting to end practices once she was finished with her scenes. Everyone else present, Justin and their director included, were clearly irritated by this and voiced their displeasure whenever Lindsay wasn't around.

As much as it bothered Trina too, she knew she couldn't really say anything against Lindsay. After all, the old saying was, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Trina didn't just see Lindsay as someone who had unjustly earned her role and was taking advantage of her part; she saw Lindsay as the person Trina used to be.

Trina remembered back when she had acted the same way: interrupting practices to schedule her beauty appointments, feeling as though she didn't need to practice at all, raising herself above everyone else, and trying to impress others who would always think of her as a nothing. The memories and the negative effects they resulted in still stung, but Trina had moved on from that. There was nothing she could do about the past; all she could do was to move on, surround herself with new, positive friends, and try to be a better person while gaining and improving her talents. She knew Justin had helped her in those goals, and it was his being around her that truly made Trina want to be better.

The only downside of the past few days was Trina catching a head cold…and she knew how she'd caught it too. On Friday, she and Justin had a huge Biochem test that counted for one third of their overall grade. So, in an effort to prepare, they'd gone to the local library to study when they were done with rehearsals on Thursday. For the next six hours, they'd gone over and over all the necessary material that would be covered on the exam, reading the side notes, and quizzing each other until they were sure they had it down. They could have stayed later, but doing so would only cost them necessary sleep and lead to more anxiety during the test.

Trina still didn't sleep the best that night, but she felt prepared during the test. It was tough, but after her and Justin's study session, Trina felt she'd done fairly well. By the time the school day was over, she felt exhausted.

She was barely able to make it through rehearsals, where she caught her illness. For this session, Jerry wanted to go ahead and have the mics and sound system on…and everyone at HA knew Sinjin was the best at managing audio equipment. Unfortunately for Trina, the boy was stricken with what was probably his fifth cold of the school year and her immune system was slightly weakened by her lack of sleep. And so Sinjin's close proximity while coughing his brains out to her while he fixed the microphones on stage had led to Trina getting sick as well.

She didn't feel it much Friday night, but Trina certainly felt it when it had fully taken hold of her by Saturday morning. Combine that with her allergies, Trina couldn't breathe through her nose for days. As much as she hated to, she had to avoid Justin and the others all weekend. She'd spent most of her time up in her room, but she quietly left every so often to get out for some air to try and help her sinuses. When Monday finally got there, Trina did go back to school, but she was still cautious around everybody. After all, she didn't want any of her friends or cast to get sick.

After an unsuccessful attempt at sleeping, Trina had been forced to leave at 1:00 AM Sunday night and buy some cold medicine and cough drops at Walgreen's. She thought that would lessen her symptoms, but no luck so far. Her nose was still stopped up, she felt feverish, and she was afraid she might be hallucinating after she thought she'd passed Fawn Liebowitz, a girl Trina swore had been expelled from Hollywood Arts.

Sighing, Trina finished reapplying mascara. "Just one more class and rehearsals; then I can rest some." Placing everything back in her backpack, Trina rushed out of the bathroom to make it to French before the break was over. Unfortunately, she was a bit dazed from the fever; even though she was able to make it out the door, she stumbled a few steps before bumping into someone.

"Whoa, slow down," a familiar voice told her.

Giving her head a light shake, Trina was able to see that she'd bumped into Kathleen on her way to their class as well.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," Trina apologized, "Trying to get to class on time, but couldn't really tell where I was going."

Despite looking confused at first, Kathleen slowly seemed to catch on. "Are you okay? You don't look like you feel too good," she asked.

Turning her head to give a slight cough, Trina shrugged when she turned back. "I'm okay I guess; just been a little sick for the past few days."

"Awe," Kathleen said, "Well while I admire your dedication to academics, as your friend, I cannot allow you to go to class when you're feeling this way. So come on," she finished as she grabbed Trina by the arm and pulled her towards the clinic.

At first, Trina tried resisting some, but she was too weak for that. So Kathleen dragged her to the clinic and sat her down in one of the waiting chairs.

"Now," Kathleen started, "you just wait here for the nurse to see you. And don't worry about missing anything in French; I'll let you copy my notes and alert you if we have any assignments for tomorrow." With those reassurances, the girl made her way back to class.

Even though Trina hated having to miss class for any reason, she knew she'd be of no use to anyone in her current state. So after she waited about 10 minutes, the nurse brought her to the back. Once Trina had sat down in her office, she simply asked the girl, "So what brings you here today?"

"Well," Trina started, "my sinuses have been killing me, I've not been able to get much sleep, and I think I have a temperature." The nurse listened patiently before giving Trina a quick look over. She appeared convinced of Trina's described symptoms, but for good measure, pulled out a disposable thermometer to get a better estimate of her fever.

"You wait right here until that goes off; I'll be back after I get some ice to bring your fever down and reduce the swelling in his eye," the nurse said nodding to her other patient that Trina just realized was present. Not surprisingly, it was Sinjin; but instead of his usual coughing fits, he was covering his eye.

Once the nurse disappeared, Trina took a better look at her classmate. From what she could tell, the eye he was covering looked black. Curious, Trina muttered around the thermometer, "What happen to you?"

Despite her mangled speech, Sinjin seemed to understand her. Strangely though, he seemed to be searching his mind for his response. "Ugh, I tripped and hit my eye on the stair rail," he finally replied with.

Not fooled by his answer, Trina asked, "Okay, now since the nurse is now out of earshot, why don't you tell me the real reason."

Sinjin looked surprised that he'd been caught in a lie, but quickly recovered. "I was practicing my saxophone for Jazz class when Jade walked by. I asked what happened to her eyebrows and she hit me with my own instrument. So why are you here?"

Trina glared at the boy before answering. "Well if you must know, you got me sick Friday when you tried setting my mic up," she responded through gritted teeth and trying to keep the thermometer in.

Sinjin's eyes widened when the girl's anger become clearer. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please don't throttle me," he repeated in fear.

Despite the rage Trina had been feeling when she had to explain her current state, she was confused at Sinjin's panic. Then she remembered her past encounters with Sinjin and how she'd been a little violent with him. Yes she was mad at him for getting her sick and she still held a grudge against him for forcing her to be his date at the Prome, but for some reason she took a step back to rethink the situation. She agreed to be his date so he could help her cheat into becoming Prome Queen, but what would that have resulted in? Probably Trina being booed by everyone present and her getting carried off by that crazy diaper guy instead of Jade.

'_And hey,'_ she reminded herself, _'he liked your Fazzini shoes, picked you to be the Query Girl on his game show, and he's the only other person you know of that gets their feet bleached by Foon-Yee.'_ Still unsure what to say, Trina just said, "Don't' worry about it; I'm not going to hurt you."

Sinjin was surprised at her lack of action, but decided against pushing his luck by questioning it. A second later the nurse came back and checked the thermometer.

"102.6," the nurse announced. Turning to Sinjin and handing him a bag of ice she said, "You keep the pressure on that, but get to class," she turned back to Trina to say, "and you take a seat up here on the table while we try and bring that fever down."

With that, Sinjin left, while Trina hopped up on the exam table while the nurse handed an icepack to place on her head. The icepack helped, but she still felt like she was burning up on the inside. Still congested, Trina took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to relax.

It seemed as though she'd only closed her eyes for a second before she heard some huge commotion out in the hall. From what she could tell, several people had just run out to the lockers in the front hallway of the school.

"Sounds like quite the commotion out there," someone said near Trina.

She turned around to see someone sitting in the chair next to the exam table reading a 'People' magazine. Even though the magazine covered his face, Trina knew who it was by the voice.

"What are you doing," Trina saracastically asked and, after a quick glance at the clock, she added, "besides watching me sleep for most of last period?"

Justin closed the magazine, revealing his smirk. "Oh I'm just keeping up with the celebrities who aren't the Kardashians." He put the magazine down and walked over to stand next to Trina. "And for the record," he said, "I've only been here like 5 minutes." He started to lean in closer to Trina, but she turned her head away from him.

"I do something wrong?" he asked concerned.

Trina blushed at his comment. _'He comforts me when I need it, helps me practice to get a part in a play, introduces me to new friends, asks me to be his girlfriend and he thinks he'd done something wrong?' _she asked herself."I'm sick," Trina told him.

"I know," Justin reassured her, "Kathy texted me before her class started, and since Spanish class ended a little bit early I thought I come check up on you."

Trina turned back to face him, returning his earlier smirk. "So you're not at all worried about getting sick?"

"I'll risk it," Justin told her. His comment was all it took for Trina to kiss her boyfriend.

"All right, all right," the nurse came back interrupting. "If you want to get sick then that's all on you," she told Justin, "but I don't need all your teenage hormones going wonky in my office."

The couple laughed at her statement.

Sighing, the nurse turned back to Trina. "I recommend you drink plenty of fluids and rest. If you feel well enough to come back tomorrow then do so; if not, stay home. Is there anyone who can watch you at your house?"

"Umm…well," Trina mumbled. Honestly she wasn't sure. Tori would most likely be with her friends, her dad was out of town, and God only knows where her mother was. Plus, since last Tuesday she'd been working to avoid her family at all costs: riding in Justin's car, staying out later, leaving when no one would catch her. There was little chance any of them would even take care of her anyway. "I doubt it," she answered with.

"Well you probably shouldn't be alone," the nurse told her before she left to start closing the clinic.

While Trina considered the idea, she suddenly felt herself being picked up and being carried bridal style out of the office by Justin.

"What are you doing?" Trina asked confused.

"Well you look a bit drowsy so this temporary means of travel should help. Plus, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I just dropped you off with no one when you're sick?" Justin asked. "Just come over to my place for a bit and I'll take you home once we get our homework knocked out," he offered.

Trina was taken aback by the offer, but she knew they both had other responsibilities. "What about rehearsals?"

"Oh I caught up with Jerry before I got here. I told him you probably wouldn't make it, but he said he had to cancel for today anyway. He got a call from his wife saying her toe's caught in something so he had to go home."

'_Well that's interesting,' _Trina thought, but decided to think nothing more of it. "Lucky for us," she said.

"Uh huh," Justin replied with a slight laugh as he set her down in the passenger seat of his car before getting in the driver's side and driving away from school.

_(Meanwhile, back at Hollywood Arts)_

"Lick my loafers Debbie," a crazed brunette told her former teacher as she was dragged away by policemen.

"Don't worry," the lead officer, Gary, reassured a still startled Tori Vega, "she won't bother you ever again."

"Thanks for that," Tori told her dad's partner with a heavy sigh.

"Don't thank me," Gary told her, "Just tell your mom I said, 'Hey.'"

"Ohhh kay," Tori replied suspiciously.

"You sure you're all right," Sikowitz asked her.

Tori knew that as an acting teacher, Sikowitz would pick up on it if she lied, so she just offered a simple, "Not really." Her teacher looked concerned, but could tell the teen was in no mood to be pressed any further. While Tori was initially glad she didn't have to explain herself any further, she was secretly wishing she could just vent her frustrations to someone. This situation with Fawn Liebowitz, aka 'Ponnie,' was her latest stressor.

Since last Tuesday she'd tried to do everything she'd tried her best to try and let the situation with Trina cool off before she tried to defuse it any…and everything she'd tried had failed.

First Tori had tried to copy her sister's approach by ignoring and not thinking about Trina. Of course it was impossible. In fact it seemed the whole world was against her in that effort: she had to walk past Trina's room to get to hers, she was driving Trina's car to school, Trina's locker was across the hall from Tori's, and the school was starting to put up flyers to advertise the senior play that Trina was in.

Then Tori had tried to take on more schoolwork and responsibility to try and occupy her mind with whatever she could so she wouldn't try to think about how to get Trina to forgive her sooner. Considering she was already overwhelmed with assignments, that was an even worse idea.

Tori had been struggling with her R&B Vocals class for most of the semester. She thought getting the highest score ever on the Tech Theater exam would mean she'd be well prepared, but missing the entirety of the Freshman class had resulted in Tori being unfamiliar with everything that wasn't on the test.

She had the singing part of the class down pat, but the editing was where she struggled. They had three projects throughout the year where they had to perform and record a non R&B song and then edit it to where the melody and voice tone matched the theme of the class. The teacher had been merciful with her first one and given her a B, but when she turned in demo for review before the second project was due, Tori was told it was C material at best. Now she was spending more time with Robbie and Andre trying to learn the proper way to mix CDs.

Further, Tori's overenthusiasm had also gotten her involved in two acting roles she was running herself ragged to practice and attend. She'd agreed to help Beck with his film project 'The Blonde Squad' weeks ago and they still had a scene to film tomorrow before the first showing Thursday night. At the same time, she was staying up late trying to study for another Sikowitz production. Principle Helen had asked Sikowitz if he'd put on a musical production two days before the senior's play and obviously he had wanted his six favorite students to try out. Auditions were tomorrow, but Tori couldn't say if her talent and being one of Sikowtiz's favorites would win her anything this time.

"Did something happen out here?" some asked bringing Tori back to reality.

The girl turned around to see Sinjin behind her with a melted icepack pressed against a blackeye.

"No Sinjin, I was just almost attacked by crazed ex-student," Tori exclaimed.

"Wow, maybe you should go join Trina in the clinic for a check over," the boy replied.

"I'm fine Sinjin," Tori assured, "I was just surprised that's a-…wait, Trina's in the clinic?"

"I just said that," Sinjin nodded.

'_Is she that sick,'_ Tori thought. Even though she hadn't really talked with Trina, Tori had been curious about her sister's health the past few days. She'd started hearing some coughing coming from Trina's room Saturday night and then she gotten woken up by some loud noise which turned out to be Trina blowing her nose. She'd first thought it was just her sister's allergies or a 24-hour thing, but if it was bad enough for Trina to go to the school nurse and risk missing a class, Tori knew it had to be more serious.

"Is she still in there?" Tori asked.

Sinjin just shrugged. "I guess; the nurse wouldn't let her leave after she found out Trina has a fever."

Tori decided this was the one of the best chance she'd have to reach out to her sister. She'd accepted the fact that Trina might not forgive her right away or listen, but Tori just had to get it off her chest. She was willing to try if it would get her sister back.

"Thanks Sinjin," Tori said before heading off, but she turned around one more time. "You know that icepack won't help after its melted," she told the odd boy.

"How do you know?" he asked her. Groaning, Tori turned and headed to the school clinic. She got there shortly, but only to see the nurse getting ready to leave for the day.

"Um, excuse me," Tori asked, "Has Trina Vega been here?"

The nurse looked up at the teen's question before checking the list of student visits. "She was in here for all of her last class, but she left about 5 minutes ago."

Tori was confused. "Well, did she say where she was going; like to a play rehearsal or getting a ride home?"

"No, neither of those places," the nurse answered, "the guy who was checking on her said something about practice being cancelled and then offered to let her go to his place."

"What guy was that," Tori asked, already knowing.

"The teen heartthrob I caught her making out with in here," the nurse said as she pushed Tori out of the clinic before locking the door. "You kids need to learn to keep you impulses under control," she said walking off.

'_So she went home with Justin,'_ Tori thought to herself sighing. While she understood her Trina's attachment to the first boyfriend she'd had in forever, she couldn't help but feel jealous that her sister was spending all her time with him and not her, even when she remembered the reasons why.

"Well, it's good to know she's with someone who deeply cares about her," Tori told herself out loud before she turned back to finish talking to Gary so she could go home.

_(At the Cisco residence)_

"Knock, knock," Justin said as he and Trina walked in his house.

A few seconds later his mother walked into the living room to greet them. "Hello Trina. As always it's good to see you."

"Thank you ma'am," Trina replied. Trina couldn't believe how welcoming Julie had been since the two met. She was so initially kind that Trina couldn't tell if fact that she and Justin were official now had had affected that any.

"Trina's here," she heared two identical voices say. Immediately Katie and Kristy appeared out of nowhere. Trina smiled when she saw the pair. She knew once they heard she was dating their brother that they wanted her around constantly: trying to get her to play RockBand, shopping, or trying to tease Justin. But today Trina knew she had to be careful around them.

"It's good to see you two, but I wouldn't get too close to me today. I've been a bit sick and I don't want you getting sick because of me," Trina told them. That stopped them, but they still looked concerned for Trina.

"Oh that's terrible. What are you feeling?" Julie asked.

"Well I've been really congested for days, I had a bad cough the other night, and the nurse said I had a fever at school," Trina explained.

After a moment of thinking, Julie said, "Come with me; I have just the thing to help," as she turned to head to the kitchen.

Justin turned to face Trina. "I'm gonna go grab our bags from the car, but quick word of advice: make sure you have some water or soda on hand." And with those words, he headed back outside.

Justin's advice left Trina slightly unnerved, but decided to take Julie's advice. Meeting her in the kitchen, Trina saw Julie pouring a dark red substance from an unmarked bottle into a small cup.

When it was slightly over half full, Julie put the bottle back down and handed the cup to Trina. "Try this; it will definitely help," Julie assured her.

Trina was hesitant. Not because she didn't trust the woman, but did she really want to take something that didn't have any labels on it? While she wrestled with indecision, Trina thought that there shouldn't be any risk. Even though she was still getting to know the Cisco's, she knew Julie had certainly warmed up to her…and Julie was a mother first and a talent manager second so Trina was sure she had experience with being sick.

Trina decided she may as well get it over with before dreading the situation anymore. She quickly brought the cup to her lips and drained it in one gulp. She coughed as she swallowed it; it had a bitter cough syrup taste and burned her throat on the way down.

"Oh that's awful, she gasped. Her nose was burning so she quickly took a few quick breaths to try and cool it some. "What do you put in th-," she stopped before she tried breathing through her nose again. Her sinuses were cleared up. Sure there was still some tingling, but Trina was able to breathe normally for the first time in days.

She looked back at Julie who had a satisfied look on her face; she obviously knew the effects of whatever she'd just given Trina. "What is that?" Trina asked.

"Family secret remedy," Julie said as she poured some more in a tea spoon. "Arthur's mother's always been a little overprotective while at the same time distrusting of doctors. Right after our marriage, Arthur got the flu; she doesn't trust store brand medicines and lived too far away to bring any so she gave me the recipe. Of course I decided it was better to switch to using cough syrup instead of some of her ingredients."

Trina gave a nervous grin. She found the story amusing, but wasn't looking forward to taking any more of that homemade medicine. "I don't need to take anymore…do I?"

"Oh don't worry. This isn't for you," Julie said as she hid behind the fridge.

Trina was confused when her attention was drawn back to the living room. "Okay, I set our stuff in the living room. So, do you want to take a break for a bit or should we go ahead and get our work done."

Justin walked back into the kitchen where he found Trina. He was smiling as he walked in, but switched to a confused look when he saw Trina's smirk as she realized what was about to happen.

"What?" Justin asked. As he turned to look for anyone else in the kitchen, his mother quickly surprised him and forced the medicine in his mouth before he could protest. "Was that really necessary?" he asked after gagging for a few seconds.

"Yes it was," his mother told him. "You haven't gotten sick this year and since you're girlfriend here's sick, you're at greater risk for catching something. I'm not letting you miss school if I can help it."

"At least warn me next time," Justin said as he got himself and Trina a drink.

"You'll be fine," Julie said. "Now, I need to head out for a little bit. I've got a meeting with a producer about getting your sisters that film role."

"Oh!," Trina said surprised, "The girls are auditioning for a movie?"

"Yeah," Justin answered sarcastically. "Apparently someone's decided to remake "The Shining" and they need actresses to play the creepy twins."

"Don't be mean," Trina told Justin as she playfully hit his shoulder.

"Oh he's not. That's Kristy and Katie's favorite scary movie for that reason," Julie said laughing. "Dinner's in the oven and should be ready by the time I get back. And hey," she said giving the two teens a stern look, "I'm gonna tell the girls to keep an eye on you two."

As she left, the two teenagers exchanged looks of confusion and surprise.

"I'm guessing she doesn't trust us?" Trina asked.

"Oh no, she trusts you," Justin assured her, "She's just being the stereotypical mom and assuming she can't trust her son."

Trina grinned as she stepped in front of Justin. "I'm guessing it's more concern after seeing how some celebrities have ended up and she doesn't want you to do the same."

"That does make her seem a bit nicer," Justin answered returning her grin before leaning into kiss Trina.

"When you two are done," Katie interrupted, "you've got to come and watch the rest of 'America Sings' in here."

"Yeah," Kristy added, "They're about to throw Wade Collins out of the studio again."

"Well," Trina said as pulled away from Justin and headed towards the living room, "we certainly don't want to miss that."

"Cheers to iCarly for revealing that guy's true colors," Justin said as he followed.

_(The Vega residence)_

"Oh, thank God I'm home." Tori cried out as she walked through her front door. After she walked out of school, Gary had offered to have a patrol officer follow her while she drove home…but the officer assigned was actually an escaped Ponnie in a police officer's uniform. Fortunately though, the other officers were still nearby and stopped the crazed ex-student from hurting Tori. In the end, Gary followed Tori home to make sure she'd be safe.

"Tori," her mom said coming out of the kitchen, "what happened with that crazy student."

"Oh we took care of her," Gary said walking into the house, "we got to her before she could do anything to Tori. She won't be seen again for a long time."

"Oh Gary, I didn't see you there," Holly said as she walked right past Tori, "Thank you so much for your help."

"No problem Holly," the officer answered, "All part of being a responsible law enforcer of Los Angeles."

"So it is," Tori heard her mom say while blushing.

Ever since her mom had made that comment about Gary being cute, Tori had thought there was something awkward between the two and being around them both right now was just making her more uncomfortable. "I'm just gonna go upstairs now," Tori said as she turned from the two adults.

"Gary you should stay for dinner tonight," Holly said. Turning to the stairs, she asked, "Tori do you or your sister would want to join us?"

Now Tori was really shocked; did her mother just ask her if she and Trina, two people that actually lived there, wanted to have dinner with her and a guy Tori barely knew. "Don't worry about it; I'm meeting up with my friends," Tori lied; she'd have to try and get ahold of Andre or someone in a little bit.

"Oh, well what about Trina?" her mother asked.

"She probably wouldn't want to," Tori said, irritated at her mother as she kept walking up the stairs, "I'm sure she's fine with her boyfriend right now anyway."

"Okay, I guess I-boyfriend!" Holly exclaimed.

'_Well that certainly got her attention,'_ Tori thought as she stopped on one of the last steps.

"Trina doesn't have a boyfriend…does she?" her mom called from downstairs.

Tori went back down a few steps so she could see her mother's reaction. "Yeah, she does. It's that guy who dropped her off a few weeks ago."

Her mother's face displayed genuine surprise and shock. "When did she tell you she had a boyfriend?"

"She didn't," Tori answered, "One of my friend's saw her change her status on TheSlap and I've seen her make out with the guy several times."

"Well," Holly asked, sounding slightly hurt, "why didn't she tell me?"

Remembering how Trina responded to a similar question last week, Tori just shrugged and said, "I guess she thought you just wouldn't care." And with that, Tori turned back and went to her room.

Even though her mom didn't say it, Tori had an idea what had been going through her mind during their conversation. Even though Holly was usually oblivious to whatever was going on in her daughters' lives, Tori guessed she still wanted to know what all was happening. Obviously, the fact that her oldest daughter had a boyfriend who was already a celebrity was information she thought Trina would have bragged to her about. And the fact that Trina most likely thought her mother wouldn't care, or maybe never considered telling her in the first place, hit Holly pretty hard.

'_If that's what it takes for her to stop being so selfish, then so be it," _Tori thought as she started to text her friends to see if she could hang out with any of them tonight.

_(The next day, at Hollywood Arts)_

After being sick for the past four days, Trina was definitely feeling better today.

The previous night she'd stayed at the Cisco's until a little after 9:00 PM. After to see the latest 'America Sings' episode, Trina and Justin got started on their homework assignments. And since Katie and Kristy were still present and set on attending Hollywood Arts someday, the twins were constantly asking about the teachers, classes, and anything they could ask about the upcoming play that they didn't already know. When they finally got tired of asking, they just decided to irritate Justin until their mother got home. As much as Trina wanted, Julie wouldn't let her try and practice her singing after dinner, but it was an act of concern. The woman knew Trina was still slightly ill and didn't want her to overwork herself. So for now, she gave Trina some of the homemade remedy before Justin drove Trina home.

Now, however, Trina was overcome with excitement and curiosity. When Justin first picked Trina up this morning, he seemed happy that she was feeling better. In fact, he said that he had a surprise for her at the end of the rehearsals today. Fortunately, classes went by fairly quick, but Trina guessed that was only because she'd not been able to think straight during the previous days' lectures. As much as she wanted to see what Justin had in store for her, Trina was willing to be patient for a while longer…just like everyone else was currently waiting for Lindsay to arrive once again.

"Halfway through the second week of rehearsals and she's still holding us up," Jerry said as he paced back and forth.

"Do you want any of us to go ahead and start practicing," Trina offered.

Jerry sighed. "You all I'm not worried about," he assured, "What I am worried about is whether we can ensure Lindsay will be able to convincingly work with rest of you when we finally open."

"Guess who," a familiar, unpleasant voice called out to the cast. Lindsay had just walked in and was giving her usual, exaggerated entrance.

"A person who's late again," one of the extras backstage called out, earning a few snickers from everyone present.

Ignoring the recent remark, Jerry stepped in front of Lindsay before she could get on the stage. "Why are you late again?"

Lindsay just scoffed at the man's remark. "Does it matter?" she asked, "I'm here now so let's just get started okay."

"You obviously have no respect for anyone else here, you constantly interrupt scenes, and you're late to half our practices. Trina was sick Monday and she even showed up on time," Jerry exclaimed.

"Well she's not the lead now is she," Lindsay responded, shocking her director and apparently everyone else.

"Correction," Jerry retorted, "she wasn't the lead. She is now."

Trina felt her eyes go wide as she turned to face Jerry. "What?" she and Lindsay both exclaimed.

"That's right," Jerry told his cast before turning his attention back to Lindsay, "Trina's been here on time for every rehearsal and you haven't. Therefore, she's in, you're out."

Lindsay just gasped, "You can't do this!"

"Oh yes I can. I'm the director remember?" Jerry said sounding smug turning away from the girl.

Lindsay just fumed for a minute as she looked back and forth from the director to the stage before she finally left the auditorium in a huff.

"Look," Trina started as Jerry turned to her, "Not that I'm thrilled at the possibility of being the lead, but if I do then who'll be 'Jennifer'?"

Jerry sighed as he took a quick look at his clipboard. "Well, there were some students who showed some promise that we kept a list of. I don't know how they might do, but you're the only one who knows all the lines and you were spectacular when your first tried out for that role. So…what do you say?"

As calm as she tried to appear, Trina felt rushed with excitement on the inside. She remembered when she'd auditioned the first time feeling so hopeful at getting a lead. She knew that when she first found out that she had to accept a lesser part just because of another person's selfishness, she felt some grief but grateful that she was still appreciated. Now though, her determination was paying off and she was getting another chance at that part. "I'm in," Trina answered.

"Great," Jerry giving her a quick thumbs up as he returned to his seat, "Now let's rehearse."

Trina turned to Justin, who'd been next to her through the whole ordeal.

"So," he asked, "would the lead like her surprise now?"

Trina blushed. "I can wait, but if you're offering."

"Now it is then," Justin replied. "This was meant as an incentive to get over your cold, but I suppose it can double as a congratulations gift."

"What do you mean?" Trina asked, more curious than ever.

"Well," Justin started, "despite begin raised on my grandmother's holistic tonics, my dad thinks that there are other approaches that work better. So he was wondering if these might possibly help," he finished as he handed Trina two tickets.

At first she didn't know what they were, but was ready to squeal with excitement after she read them: two courtside tickets to the Lakers game this weekend. She practically threw herself at Justin which caused him to grin.

"You're incredible you know that," Trina told Justin.

"And you're amazing," Justin said back as the two leaned in to kiss.

**There you go. Again I'm sorry for the extended delay. I wish I had a better chapter to offer in return (I've have mixed feelings about this chapter; it has parts from everywhere).**

**The next chapter will take place a day after the Blonde Squad episode and will be similar to Chapter 3 but for a different character. I have most of it planned out already, but I'm open to suggestions (i.e. if you want Tori to explode about her frustrations let me know). It's getting a bit harder to write these chapters because it helps to have some material from the show to work with or tweak. I don't mean to disrespect Dan Schneider, but the show is lacking these days. There's never really been much character development to begin with (except for Jade and maybe Robbie) and, except for Beck and Jade's breakup, anything new introduced just lasts the course of that particular episode. So if you have any ideas for future chapters, please include them in a review…but enough venting from me.**

**Please review and I'll do my best to have the next chapter up soon.**

**P.S. I've gotten more ideas for my future Trina-centric story, but I want to get this one knocked out first.**


	17. What Will Work

**First of all, I cannot apologize enough about how long it's been since I've updated; I really didn't mean for it to be so long. I won't go too long about it, except by saying it involves school starting back, new job, a new record for visits to financial aid to get refunds, and writer's block. This chapter was tough: the beginning is kinda sketchy, the ending is rough, and I'm pretty sure I contradicted myself a lot so I apologize for it not being my best chapter.**

**Also, I won't deny that hearing the news about Victorious ending got me down. This 60 episode limit seems extremely unfair and Nickelodeon seems desperate these days since they're showing reruns of shows that ended years ago (Drake and Josh is my favorite Dan Schneider show, but I don't know why they are showing reruns for the first time in so long; I'm guessing Zoey 101 is next). It may not be for real since they've already started talking about the spin-off shows **_**Gibby**_** and **_**Sam & Cat**_**, but I saw someone tweeted that if the remaining episodes get so many viewers, they won't end Victorious. That being said, I'll do my part by encouraging everyone to watch the new episode 'Wanko's Warehouse' this Saturday at 8:00 PM Eastern and 7:00 PM Central and then the following episode 'The Hambone King' next Saturday same time.**

**As with all my chapters, please review when done; I know I don't deserve your time, but it helps. Also, there's a slight extra at the end of this chapter so either include your opinion of it with a review or PM me. Again, I apologize for the poor quality/grammar of this chapter.**

**Disclaimer:** **Still don't own Victorious; just Justin Cisco the OC characters.**

Despite a few sickly days at the beginning, Trina Vega's mood was higher than ever as the school week came to a close.

'_I still can't believe it,'_ she thought, _'I got the lead in a play, starring opposite my awesome boyfriend whose kindness knows no bounds.'_

Thinking about the rehearsals, Trina had to laugh at herself some. When they first started Wednesday, after she got reassigned to the lead, she'd been so excited that she was a bit overenthusiastic during the first few scenes they practiced. Jerry looked a bit annoyed at first, but he seemed to understand the girl's enthusiasm.

Trina was quick to recover however; taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she remembered all the extra practicing her and Justin had done and worked that into her efforts. After a few go's, she felt that she was in sync with her character and meeting the director's expectations.

After that practice seemed to go well; sure she had to be cautious about her interacting with the rest of the characters, but that wasn't as difficult a challenge as she thought. By the end of practice, the cast felt some practice wouldn't hurt, but felt by opening night.

Thursday's practice was one of the few that they were able to start on time. But everyone seemed more comfortable with the change in parts. They ended a bit early because Jerry was having some students who had been at initial tryouts come in and re-audition.

No one seemed to argue; it gave Trina more time to spend with Justin. The couple got to go celebrate with their friends later on and plan out their weekend. Tonight would just be Girl's Night; Trina, Kathleen, and Nora hanging out at the mall for a bit before heading over to Nora's for a few hours. And of course (Trina gushed with excitement at the thought), tomorrow she and Justin had the Laker's game to go to. Everything seemed to be going great.

But Trina was quickly brought back to reality as she saw Robbie Shapiro walking up to her with Rex on one arm and his guitar slung over his shoulder.

Trina wasn't angry at seeing him, just surprised. For almost two weeks she hadn't spoken to Tori or any of the friends. She'd been avoiding them like she said and thought they wanted. None of them seemed to have made an effort to interact with her either…until now that is.

"Hey Trina, got a sec," Robbie asked.

'_Don't do anything stupid,'_ Trina reminded herself, _'that's probably what he's expecting and you don't want to be the selfish person anymore.'_

"What do you want Robbie?" she replied.

As usual, the boy seemed to stutter before finding what he wanted to say. "Well, if you have the time, I wanted to get your opinion on a song I wrote."

His offer confused Trina. The only reason she could think Robbie would ask what she thought about a song he wrote would be if he wrote it for her. She knew that Robbie had had a crush on her before (after that stage kiss last semester), but judging by his actions over the last few months, she was sure he was focused on Cat now.

Curious about the song, but even more so about why he was asking her, Trina could help but ask, "Why would you want my opinion on it?"

This time it was Rex who answered. "Because it didn't impress Cat so Robbie's trying to see if he can get some other girl's attention with it."

Trina gasped at the statement. "So you don't really care about my opinion at all; you're just going to use it to impress someone else?"

Robbie didn't respond right away, but Trina could tell she'd caught him. So once again, it was Rex who spoke up, "That's Robbie for ya."

Trina had heard enough; not wanting to hear anymore, she turned away and walked off to her first class.

Robbie frantically searched his mind for something to say and get Trina back for a second, but nothing came. Instead he just turned to his other half and asked, "Why would you say that?"

"Well you couldn't think of anything, and it's probably not too far from the truth," Rex said back before they heard the bell ring.

_(After first period)_

Despite maintaining a calm appearance throughout first period, Trina was still feeling a mix of anger and hurt as she was getting books for her next class out of her locker.

Trina sighed as she remembered her earlier encounter with Robbie. She admitted that, even though she'd taken advantage of Robbie on occasion, Trina liked him more than some of Tori's friends. At least he would give her a chance. In fact, if he was more secure and self-confident, the boy would probably have been one of the more popular students at H.A. But of course, Robbie was painfully shy, he could barely talk when he was around a girl, and he couldn't really stand up for himself. That was the whole point of Rex.

As strange as it was, everyone treated and tolerated Rex as if he were a real person, just for Robbie's sake, which still wasn't likely to be helpful. Even though Rex eased Robbie's discomfort around people sometimes, it made it awkward to be around him and usually drove people away.

Furthermore, all the time Robbie spent bottling up his thoughts and emotions, resulted in him having no filter whenever he had Rex. Whether it was a direct insult to someone, crudely hitting on a girl, or an expression of Robbie's own self-loathing, nothing was too personal.

While Trina and others had felt sorry for him, it didn't go unnoticed that Robbie never apologized or tried to explain himself if he hurt anyone's feelings…nor did he need any help from Rex when he teased Trina by pretending to like her with Andre and Beck-

'_Well look who it is,'_ Trina thought as she turned and saw Beck walking towards her.

Whereas roughly a month ago, Trina would have been worried about how she looked around Beck and what he could want with her, now she wasn't concerned at all. After everything she'd heard Beck say when he'd been around her, she knew he'd never interact with her if he had a choice and would always regard her as a nothing. Besides, any attraction she'd had towards him was gone; Trina wouldn't trade what she had with Justin for anything.

"Hey Trina," Beck said as he finally got close enough, stopping just short of her locker.

"I'm in a hurry Beck," Trina told him before he could start. "What do you want?"

Even though he was slightly surprised, Beck did his best to hide it before trying to say what he wanted. "Well there was something that I wanted to ask you."

Before he could continue, Trina raised her hand up to cut him off. She had an idea where this was going and wasn't in the mood to deal with it. "Before you even ask, the answer is no Beck."

Now he was confused. "What-what do you mean?" Beck asked.

"I've not said a single thing that concerns you and me since that first stupid attempt; so your reputation is still solid," Trina answered, "and as unbelievable as everyone may think it is, I really am in a relationship with Justin and I did get a part in the upcoming senior play. It's not a lie."

Whereas he was confused before, now Beck was just shocked. "Why would you think that's all I would ask?"

"What else could it be?" Trina asked as she shrugged, "It's not like we've had any real conversations."

Beck started to reply, but stopped as he realized the girl had a point. Giving his head a quick shake, he decided to try one more time. "Look Trina, please listen. You're my friend's sister and."

"Right," Trina interrupted with a sarcastic smirk, "your friend's sister." She closed her locker before she turned back to Beck and quietly said, "Not your friend," before she walked away.

For a few minutes, Beck stood there in silence as he processed the whole situation…it didn't go the way he had hoped.

"I see you were as successful as Robbie was," Beck heard someone behind him say. He turned around to see Robbie walking up to him with Rex.

"What'd you try?" Beck asked his friend.

Robbie seemed reluctant to respond before answering, "Impressing her with a song."

Curious, Beck asked, "So you've wrote a song for Trina and a song for Cat in the same week?"

"Not exactly," Robbie said.

Beck tried sorting out Robbie's statements, "Okay…so you tried to impress Trina with the same song you wrote for Cat," and then he remembered what Rex said before, "and let me guess: you let slip that it was supposed to be for Cat and you just recycled it?"

"No," Robbie answered, "Rex did."

Beck just sighed, wondering if either of them had just made this whole situation worse.

As the two boys made turned to go to class, their puppet companion asked, "So who's gonna tell Tori about all this?"

_(After second period)_

After all the stress that she'd gone through this week, Tori Vega was definitely ready to just be away from school for two days. All she had to do was get her last few classes, which would probably be difficult with all the gossip going around about Sikowitz's next play.

Everyone was surprised at Tori's part, especially since it was one she hadn't gotten since she started at Hollywood Arts. But when everyone checked the list outside Sikowitz's classroom, they saw it clear as day: _Tori Vega-Understudy to Jade West_.

Strangely, Tori wasn't surprised as everyone else. As usual, Sikowitz didn't give much time for his students to review their scripts before scheduling auditions. Add to the fact that Tori was also helping Beck with his play and the crazy Ponnie incident earlier this week, she'd only memorized the first half of her lines. So, this time she playing understudy to Jade instead of it being the other way around. But since Tori knew that Jade wouldn't miss this play for anything, she couldn't care less about the play. Right now she was too worried about Cat.

Even though she blamed that shallow Evan for not accepting Cat for who she was, Tori still felt guilty. She was the one who wanted to go out in their blonde wigs, she chose Nozu, and she wouldn't let Robbie fix Cat's wig last night. Tori had thought the fact that Evan claimed he didn't like people who weren't themselves and Cat's natural beauty would win him over, but she was wrong. The fact that Robbie said Cat had mentioned dyeing her hair blonde showed how much Cat liked Evan; this only increased Tori's guilt.

"Tori," she heard someone call behind her. Tori turned around to see Cat walking towards her.

'_At least she's still talking to me,'_ Tori thought, feeling a little better. "Hey Cat," she called back.

"Are you doing okay?" Cat asked as she stopped in front of Tori.

"Yeah, I'm good," Tori answered curiously, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Cat didn't answer right away; she looked as though she was carefully considering her words. "I saw the list of parts outside class. I was just worried that you'd be sad about Jade getting the lead instead of you."

Tori gave a slight smile at her redhead's consideration. "No Cat I'm okay," Tori assured her. "This isn't like the Platinum Music Awards. We both auditioned and Jade got the part fair and square. I really wouldn't mind sitting out a play; I've rarely gotten to see Jade act in something that didn't involve me."

"Oh, okay," Cat said with a little more confidence, but she still looked uneasy.

Tori wasn't sure, but it seemed as though Cat wanted to say something else. "Is something wrong Cat?" Tori asked.

Cat didn't answer; for a minute she just looked at the floor instead of Tori and started playing with her red hair. When she finally looked up, she shyly asked, "Well I was just wondering…if you've talked to Trina lately."

Tori was slightly surprised at the question. Despite their concern last Tuesday, her friends hadn't asked about how things were going with Trina. Likewise, Tori hadn't thought about discussing it with any of them. Since Tori still had no way of knowing where or how to get Trina to talk to her, she'd made no progress.

"No, Cat," Tori said, "She's still avoiding me so I've not gotten to talk with her. I guess she's still mad"

"Oh," Cat answered looking back down.

A thought crossed Tori's mind. Cat already seemed down when she first walked up, but the news about Trina seemed to drag her down even further. Cautiously, Tori reached out and put her hand on Cat's shoulder before asking, "Do you miss Trina, Cat?"

Cat didn't look up right away, once again looking like she was thinking about what to say. Instead, when she looked back at Tori she just nodded her head twice.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Tori asked, hoping to comfort the little redhead.

"Well…don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with you guys," Cat started, "but, there's so many times when you'd be hanging out with Andre, Jade would be with Beck or wanted to be alone, and Robbie just wants to play pirates. And since my older brother is in and out of mental hospitals," she paused for a moment, "it was nice to have around an older girl who I could hang out with and talk to when no one else was there."

"Oh, Cat," Tori said, feeling her heart bleed. She stepped forward to give Cat a hug for support. "I'm so sorry," she told her friend.

"It's okay Tori," Cat replied.

"No it's not," Tori said. Pulling back and looking Cat directly in the eye, she said, "I promise, I'll do my best to get Trina back. Okay?"

Cat looked down at the floor for a few seconds, but it felt much longer to Tori. When the redhead finally looked back up, she seemed to be a bit more hopeful.

'_At least it's something,' _Tori though to herself before saying, "So, should we get to class?"

Cat nodded and the two headed off, but right before they headed into Sikowitz's room, the girls noticed Beck, Robbie, and Rex waiting outside.

Curious, Tori decided to ask, "What's up guys?"

The pair exchanged looks before Rex chimed in with, "These two geniuses have something to tell you."

Tori bit her lip; she didn't know what the boys had to say, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't like it.

_(Afterschool)_

Tori's phone went off for what had to be the seventh time in the last 2 hours. She saw it was Andre this time, but she didn't answer just like all the previous calls. She didn't really feel like talking to anyone right now. All she felt like doing was pacing the stage in the Blackbox alone.

Before Sikowitz's class, Beck and Robbie explained their individual attempts to talk with Trina earlier. Tori could tell from the start that neither of them had good news, but now she was concerned that the entire situation had just gotten worse.

Still, Tori was surprised at her friends' efforts. She knew they all regretted their past treatment of Trina and would help in anyway Tori asked. Even so, Tori was pretty sure that she had to try and make things right with her sister first. The truth was, with everything new in Trina's life, Tori wasn't sure how.

To at least get some idea, Tori had bribed Sinjin to let her hide up in the audio booth to watch the rehearsal for the play Trina was in. Tori couldn't deny she was surprised at her sister's performance throughout the practice. The same Trina that Tori and everyone else had constantly put down and called talentless was now one of the leads in a Hollywood director's production.

Tori knew now how stupid the claims and stories she and her friends had made about Trina were. Even if the crazed, drugged up version Sikowitz had told them about how Trina go in was true, what were the odds that Trina would have made it to her senior year if she really had no talent for acting or singing? The more likely explanation was the girl's overly dramatic antics were what led her to being so annoying and interfered with her performance. Once she overcame that, she'd rediscovered her talent and was much better at expressing it.

Throughout the practice, Tori was wrestling with the decision of whether or not she should try and surprise Trina when she was leaving. This time she knew exactly where Trina was and if she couldn't get to her sister, she could try giving one of the other senior actors a message to give to Trina. But, when the practice came to an end, Tori simply froze. Just like she'd done all the times she thought of going into Trina's room late at night, Tori had no clue what to say and was so worried about saying the wrong thing that she ended up doing nothing.

Although she had told them it wouldn't work and not to do it themselves, Tori knew what her friends thought she could try; instead of trying to apologize, Jade came up with the idea of telling Trina the truth about the whole Helen incident. They all figured that if Trina knew she would have been kicked out of Hollywood Arts if Tori hadn't prevented it, then that could bring the sisters back together. But Tori saw the problems with that idea.

First of all, her friends were all forgetting that when they found out Trina was getting kicked out instead of Tori, not one of them had said anything against Helen's decision. While they all would have protested Tori leaving Hollywood Arts, they all stayed silent when it came to Trina and then fled when Tori asked for help telling her. After hearing how much Cat missed Trina, Tori didn't want to take any chance of her sister finding out that fact.

Second, there was no guarantee telling Trina would make any difference. Even if it did get Trina to forgive Tori, would it do anything else? Was there a chance that things wouldn't be any different than they were right now? Tori didn't know, but she wanted to more than just her sister's forgiveness; she wanted Trina back in her life.

Tori remembered all the past times when she was with her friends without Trina, either because she was busy with something else or they made her feel unwelcome. Regardless, Tori never doubted that her sister wouldn't ignore them if invited or if Tori needed her. Now though, Tori didn't know what she was feeling from Trina. She knew Trina didn't hate her…but there was just an emptiness there that no one else could fill. It was also clear that their parents were feeling it too.

After recapping the Tuesday's events and Trina's new boyfriend to her mother, Tori hung around their house before calling up her friends to catch a movie. When she went downstairs, instead of seeing her mother and Gary talking, Tori only saw her mom sitting by herself in the kitchen. Holly said that Gary had to leave so he couldn't stay, but Tori knew her mom was probably lying. The woman appeared a little bit more sullen and Tori had a guess why.

Tori wouldn't argue that her mom had taken a less active role in her and Trina's lives throughout their teenage years, but based on Holly's reaction, Tori guessed she wanted to decide what to listen to and what to ignore. Apparently, boys were a topic that she wanted to know about, and the thought that her daughter didn't bother to mention it made Holly question some of her motherly instincts.

Their dad was a different story; hearing her parents' conversation last week really showed Tori how remorseful her dad felt. Despite going out of his way to avoid any conflict Tori and Trina were having, David was always concerned about his daughters' safety once they were out of the house. The idea that he was now at risk of losing one of them was deeply affecting him; in fact the entire household had been reminded of that possibility.

After auditions for Sikowitz's play yesterday, Tori was exhausted. With a few hours left before "The Blonde Squad" would be shown at school, she decided to stop at home to rest for a little bit. Her dad was sitting on the couch when she got there; since he'd gotten back early that morning, the police chief had given him the day off. He was tired, but seemed to be in a content mood. Not for long though.

Tori had stopped by the mailbox on her way; too tired to carefully look at it, she dropped it on the table before taking a seat on the couch. She looked back to see her dad looking through the letters; he didn't show much interest at first, but stopped when he got to one. David seemed focused on that letter for what seemed like forever until finally, he let out a deep sigh, dropped the mail back on the table and walked upstairs.

Curious about how a piece of mail could bother someone so much, Tori got up to take a closer look. She understood her dad's reaction when she saw the top letter. It was addressed to Trina, from The Art Institute of Seattle in Washington. It wasn't an acceptance letter, or an application; just a letter with some information about the college. Even though Tori knew Trina hadn't applied there, she knew what it represented. The fact that it was from an out of state college reminded David of him telling Trina to go far away after graduation.

What would happen if Trina left Los Angeles or California? Would she come back? Would she keep in touch? If she still intended to make it as an actress, Tori was fairly certain Trina would stay; plus Trina might not want to go to a different school than her boyfriend. But that didn't mean the girl would have her family included in all of that. Living the rest of her life without her sister was something Tori didn't want to think about. She had to do something, but what.

Taking a break from her thoughts, Tori saw that she'd made her way onto the stage; off to the side, almost out of view was a piano Hollywood Arts kept close to the Blackbox for students who played to fulfill their instrument requirement as well as when they had Friday Night Jams inside. Even though most of Tori's instrument playing was crude to say the least, she'd been taking some lessons from Andre; she hadn't learned many, but she was able to play for her Platinum Music Award audition…and one other song.

Taking a seat, Tori slid the cover up before trying to remember where to place her hands. Taking a deep breath, she started. The music came out a bit rough at first, but Tori quickly adjusted before the melody began to flow smoother. After a few minutes, Tori became lost in the music and started to sing as well.

_I don't wanna make a scene_

_I don't wanna let you down_

_Tryin' to do my own thing, _

_and I'm starting to figure it out_

_That it's alright keep it together where ever we go_

_And it's alright oh well whatever_

_Everybody needs to know_

It was the song from Trina's birthweek; a song that had led to a lot of tension between the sisters.

_You might be crazy_

_have I told you lately_

_That I love you_

_You're the only reason that I'm not afraid to fly__  
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Tori remembered how she had felt when she'd heard that Trina didn't think it was a real gift and had then sold it for money; it hurt that a gift she'd worked hard on could just be thrown away. But the truth was that Andre put pretty much all the work into it; Tori gave him a few ideas and he was the one who wrote up the lyrics, melody, and came up with the song idea in the first place. But as they were setting up, it was less about Trina liking the song. Thinking back, Tori realized it became more about her concerns about her singing and whether her performance would be good or not. It was a shame, because Tori meant everything she said in that song to Trina.

_And it's crazy_

_That someone could change me_

_Not no matter what it is I have to do_

_I'm not afraid to try_

_And you need to know that you're the reason, why_

As the song came to a close, Tori just sighed and covered pulled the cover back over the keys. But before she could get up to leave, she heard clapping from somewhere. Someone else was here in the auditorium.

"That's a beautiful song," she heard someone say.

When Tori turned toward the voice, she was more than surprised to see Justin Cisco leaning against the wall near the front entrance.

**Well, as I said, I apologize for the lateness and wish I had a better chapter for you, but this was all I could think to follow up with. Like I said, the beginning's a bit sketchy; I was going to start with the Tori and Cat conversation, but a lot of people wanted to see some of Tori's friends try and apologize; I did my best with the Robbie and Beck, but I still don't think it fits. I know Rex wasn't in The Blonde Squad (no complaints from me), but it was the best way I could think to have the conversation with Robbie and Trina at the beginning and since there's no explanation as to why Robbie hasn't carried Rex around much in Season 3, I decided to wing it.**

**Again, please review to let me know what I can work on or something to include in future chapters.**

**As for the surprise…it's not much, but like I said in a previous chapter, I have an idea for another Victorious Trina-centric fiction. Whereas Trina is Done reimagines several of the show's canon plots, my new fiction will keep everything as shown and focus on Trina after she graduates Hollywood Arts. Just to see if it's something I should go for and to get early feedback on, I decided to post the synopsis for it at the end of this chapter. I know I said I would wait till I finished this story to start it, but I've been jotting down my ideas and plotting out some so I don't forget anything like I did before starting my current story. So here it is:**

_**Proposed Story:**_ **After overhearing her family and sister's friends talk about her, Trina Vega has learned the horrible truth: that she never belonged at Hollywood Arts; she should have been kicked out before her final semester; no one likes her; and she has no talent whatsoever. Convinced that she's been nothing but a burden and embarrassment to everyone around her, she runs away from home, leaving no trace of how to find her. Her goal is to attend college with the hope she can move on from her past failures to find some career she might find appealing. But can she really give up the one dream she followed so passionately? What will she learn and go through to survive in her new, unfamiliar surroundings? Meanwhile, the Vega family has to continue on without one of its members, each forced to go through their own trials while painful truths are uncovered.**


	18. New Found Ally

**I'm not going to give random excuses about why this is so overdue, so I'm just going to say I'm sorry.**

**Disclaimer: ****I don't own Victorious**

_**Previously**_

_As the song came to a close, Tori just sighed and covered pulled the cover back over the keys. But before she could get up to leave, she heard clapping from somewhere. Someone else was here in the auditorium._

_"That's a beautiful song," she heard someone say._

_When Tori turned toward the voice, she was more than surprised to see Justin Cisco leaning against the wall near the front entrance._

After she noticed Justin had been overhearing her singing, Tori felt different emotions. First, she was surprised that someone had overheard her playing when she thought she'd been alone. That fact that it was her sister's boyfriend added to that (she briefly wondered how good her singing had been since someone as talented as Justin caught her).

Second, she wasn't sure what to do now. For one thing, she didn't know Justin…at least not personally. Whereas he might have had a class with Trina before they started hanging out a few weeks ago, the only thing Tori could say she had in common with him was that they both went to Hollywood Arts; they had never been in class together, acted in the same play, or had any real interaction.

For a few moments, neither of them said anything; Tori just stayed glued to the piano bench trying to think of what to do. At the same time Justin just stood by the door with a mixed look of confusion and concern.

Finally, he was the one to speak up. "Well, I'll let you get back to your practice now. Sorry to interrupt," before he turned to open the door.

"Wait," Tori called out, stopping Justin. She had practically no clue about what to say to this complete stranger, but Tori had no idea how to try and make things better with her sister. Talking to Trina's boyfriend might be her best and only option. "Can…can we talk?" she asked.

Justin turned around and gave her the same look he had before he let go of the exit door and saying, "Sure."

As he made his way to the stage, Tori wondered what she could say. Again, she didn't know the guy outside what every other person at school knew nor did Tori know what he might know about her. For all she knew, Trina could have told him everything that she and her friends said and if she wanted Justin to meet any of them. Based on his reaction, Tori didn't think that was the case, but she didn't want to give him a reason to distrust her.

Still unsure by the time Justin got to the stage, Tori just decided to try and keep it simple with just, "Uh, thanks. I hope I'm not taking you away from anything."

"It's no problem Tori," Justin answered.

Tori couldn't deny she was surprised he knew who she was. "You know who I am?" she asked.

"Yeah; you're Tori Vega. I've seen some of your performances here," Justin replied, "plus I can see the family resemblance."

"Family resemblance?" Tori questioned.

"Yeah," Justin said, "you look a little like your sister…who I'm sure you've probably heard that I'm dating now."

"Oh," Tori said, "yeah, I did hear about that; congrats by the way."

"Thanks," Justin said, eyeing her suspiciously. "So what's the problem with you and your sister?" he asked crossing his arms.

Tori's eyes shot open when she heard the question._ 'What does he know?'_ she asked herself.

"Why—why would you think something was wrong between us?" Tori stammered.

"Well," Justin started, "I don't mean to be prying into personal matters, but I've noticed that even though Trina's met my family plenty of times, she's seems cautious about discussing you all and judging from your reaction just now, I'm guessing you know something about it."

For a minute or two, Tori weighed her options. She knew she'd given herself away, so unless she sprinted out of the Blackbox right now, she'd have to tell Justin something.

Tori wasn't sure how Justin would react if he didn't already know the whole story, but she wanted her sister back and she had no idea how. This was probably her only option left.

"Well," Tori started, "we're not really talking right now or even doing anything."

"What happened?" Justin asked looking concerned, showing Tori he didn't know.

"One day," Tori cautiously, "my friends and I were in the hall talking, and…we said somethings about Trina."

"Mean things?" Justin asked, looking even more attentive. His look was making Tori want to stop, but she'd already said so much.

"Yes," Tori painfully admitted lowering her head, "and we didn't realize that Trina was close and she heard everything. So, now she's avoiding me, my friends, and our parents as much as she can."

"This took place Monday, three weeks ago didn't it?" Justin asked.

Tori's head shot up at the revelation. "How do you-?"

"I ran into her that day," Justin said. "Or she ran into me; ironically in here."

"H-how did she seem?" Tori asked.

"She seemed really upset and hurt," Justin said.

"How do you kn-?" Tori started.

"She was crying," Justin interrupted, "and I don't suppose you tried to stop your friends insulting your sister?"

"No," Tori confessed, "I was doing the same thing."

Hearing him sigh, Tori looked up to see Justin just shaking his head before he looked back up and said, "When she said some people were mocking her behind her back, I had a feeling it was some of your friends since I've seen her around you all a lot. I didn't think you were part of that though…that's low."

"I know!" Tori cried out. Hearing what happened later that day was making Tori feel worse. "I didn't mean for her to get hurt. It just happened."

"Why?" Justin asked her.

"Why what?" Tori asked confused.

"Why were you insulting your sister in the first place?" Justin asked.

"Well," Tori started while searching her mind for the best answer, "there's just times where Trina gets really annoying and it's hard to put up with her and-."

"So it's better to insult someone behind their back instead of just sitting and talking to them about how to work something out?" Justin asked.

Tori took a moment to process his words before groaning out, "Oh man."

Justin let her take a minute to collect her thoughts before asking, "Okay, I'm guessing you didn't always say this stuff about your sister, so when did you start?"

Tori knew Justin had a point. She remembered that whenever she and Trina argued before it was just typical sibling fights, nothing like what had gone on since Tori started at Hollywood Arts. Wait…was that it?

"I guess it started shortly after I started going to school here," Tori offered.

"Okay," Justin said, "why did you start insulting Trina after that?"

Tori tried thinking back to when she first started at Hollywood Arts. When she walked in her first day Trina was with her, but her sister had her own classes to go to. The only other person Tori knew was Andre…in a school she'd never been to before, surrounded with people she didn't know, and put up on stage her first day and expected to know what to do.

With Andre's help she did make friends that she was thankful for, but she still felt out-of-place for a while. With Jade's snarky comments, Tori constantly wondered if people would think if she should be there. Then one day Tori heard her friends saying stuff about how Trina wasn't as talented as she thought and then…

"I guess," Tori began, coming back to reality, "when I started here I was afraid since I didn't really have any friends here and didn't know anyone. Then after I made friends and heard them saying stuff about Trina I thought if I disagreed with them then I'd lose them and be here alone for the rest of high school."

"You were afraid of being made fun of for being new here; so you joined in making fun of your sister to take the focus off you?" Justin asked, "You shouldn't feel like you have to do that?"

"What do you-," Tori said.

"Your friends should like you for who you are; that includes family," Justin told her, "you joining in with their insults make it seem like you don't care about Trina any more than they do."

"But that's not true!" Tori exclaimed, "I love my sister and I'm sorry for everything I said. I want to tell her that, but she won't let me."

"Can you blame her?" Justin asked, causing Tori to sigh.

"I just want to tell her how sorry I am and that-," Tori said as she got an idea, "Wait; you could tell her that."

Justin was a little surprised when Tori asked him that; sure he could tell Trina what Tori had just told him, but he knew it wasn't that simple.

"Look," he told Tori, "I am Trina's boyfriend and I do care about her a lot, but I don't know if that's going to work."

"Why not?" Tori asked somewhat desperately.

"Listen, I'm sure she's not going to be mad at you forever," Justin reasoned, "but you have to understand what she's going through. She put up with all the insults for a while so it's not something she can just let go of easily."

"But can you at least talk to her?" Tori asked, "Try and get her to talk to me."

Justin sighed, but he could tell Tori was desperate and he was sure if Trina knew she'd be concerned about her little sister.

"I'll talk to her," Justin assured Tori, "I'll see if I can get a better guess about how she's feeling right now and see if I can suggest that she talk to you. She's got to want to talk to and forgive you on her own."

Tori nodded in agreement before saying, "Thank you."

Again, I am sorry this is so overdue; I wanted to try and get it done right around when the last, new episode of Victorious aired (tonight) so it's kinda rushed (I'm sure there's plenty of grammar mistakes) and again I apologize. This was definitely a hard chapter to write, but Sinjin's speech to the gang in 'Slap Fight' was really inspirational. I've got ideas about how to do the next chapters so I'm going to try and update a lot more often to this story and my other one.

Please review.


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